TUNNEL VISION

MEET WELILE GUMEDE – A YOUNG WOMAN WITH AN ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT WHO HAS TRANSFORMED UNUSED AGRICULTURAL SPACES IN HER COMMUNITY INTO A THRIVING BUSINESS, WRITES CANDICE BOTHA

Welile Gumede’s story reads like a movie script. Armed with a tertiary qualification in chemical engineering, she searched in vain for an internship to complete her practical training, but couldn’t find any business that would take her on. She returned to her home in the rural area of Ilembe disappointed but not defeated. Determined not to have to rely solely on a government grant to support herself and her baby daughter, Welile started looking for opportunities in her immediate surroundings in Maphumulo.

“I could not just accept that I didn’t have a job, so set about identifying problems in my community that needed to be addressed. I realised there was a lot of formerly cultivated agricultural land in the area which was no longer being utilised, including several greenhouse tunnels,” she explains.

My aim was to create revenue, youth employment and community upliftment … to provide opportunities not only for myself, but for other young people

Welile investigated whether she would be able to use the land and tunnels, and after drafting proposals was granted permission. “My aim was to create revenue, youth employment and community upliftment, and I set up Azowel Projects to provide opportunities not only for myself, but for other young people. And so started my journey to revive these spaces.”

She entered an entrepreneurship competition at the Ilembe Chamber of Commerce and used her winnings as start-up capital to restore eight abandoned tunnels to working order to grow tomatoes, and began cultivating cabbages in an open field.

Tomatoes growing in one of the greenhouse tunnels.

Welile would like to move into agroprocessing their primary products so that they have a longer shelf-life.

She entered an entrepreneurship competition at the Ilembe Chamber business providing in her community.

Earlier this year, Welile was awarded the prestigious Rising Star prize in the Santam Women of the Future Awards. “This prize has opened doors for us,” says Welile. “We’ve had so much publicity and people want to partner with us. Government has even approached me to ask me to trainother farmers which is very exciting. Azowel has always been about empowerment and I would love to see similar businesses flourishing in rural areas all over KZN. My aim is not only to train employees, but also other business owners.”

She’s starting with 40 students who will receive on-the-job training and hopefully take their skills back to their own communities. Cultivating crops, especially tomatoes in the KZN coastal climate, is a challenge that Welile has mastered and she’s been approached to share her expertise in this sphere, too.

She has seen the impact Azowel has had on her community – her employees have been able to transform shacks into houses and provide for their families. Her goal for the future is to expand the retail side of the business and to develop retail outlets for fresh produce closer to the rural areas where it is grown.

“We would also like to move into agroprocessing our primary products so that they have a longer shelf-life, creating employment and skills development in rural communities, growing local economies, and disrupting the idea of having to move to big cities in order to find work.”

Welile with some of her employees she has been training.

FOR MORE INFO facebook.com/Azowelprojects/