Enock Lehlohonolo Ditsele has been running Kasi Culture, a food and drinks outlet since 2011. He was born and raised in Carletonville Township.
The only child at home, he had a great upbringing and had the ambition of becoming a lawyer until his father passed away in September 2002, before he wrote his National Senior Certificate examinations. He moved to stay with his grandmother and aunty in Katlehong Township and rethink what to do next.
The only option for him was to get a job; luckily he got a job at Ultra Alloy, a company making conveyer belts in Kya Sand Industrial Site in 2004. His aunty Malehlo Moketi influenced the businessman he is today as she sold bunny chows, sweets, drinks, peanuts and ran a payphone at her spaza shop. He moved to Cosmo City in 2010 to be closer to work, unfortunately that was the same year he was retrenched.
The only thing he knew then was selling bunny chows, sweets, drinks and peanuts during his off days at his aunt’s spaza shop. That was the only logical thing for him to do with his retrenchment package. “You don’t wake up and plan to go into business, I just didn’t have a choice”, he says.
Kasi Culture was born in 2011, and business was doing great until residents noticed the queues to his outlet. Many outlets mushroomed all over the place and competition became stiff. “We tried making healthier bunny chows with fresh vegetables and mince, the clients didn’t make and see the difference, they just wanted an oily bunny chow – I guess we still need health education and health inspectors to visit all the outlets and educate residents in Cosmo City. We still have our loyal clientele, and we hope to grow”.
Summary Business Insights from Enock Lehlohonolo Ditsele:
• Start any business or initiative with Love,
• Don’t start a business because you are stressed and you just hoping for the best,
• Sell products and services that you know,
• Sell products and services that you would buy,
• Have self-determination,
• Internal motivation goes a long way on bad days,
• Be consistent in managing your business – be able to manage R2s and R5s so that you can manage R1000,
• If you are running a business and you do not get along with your staff, you will lose your investment,
• Acknowledge great work from your human capital.
