Thuma Mina Online – Tshepang Masuku is heeding the call to serve Tembisa

Heeding the call to

SERVE TEMBISA

In President Ramaphosa’s inaugural address in 2018, and following the passing of music legend Hugh Masekela, Ramaphosa used the catchphrase “Thuma Mina” – a line from a Masekela song. While “send me” is a great line to galvanise a nation, it works even better as a name for a modern delivery company. Enter Thuma Mina Online.

“O ur name is inspired by the African way of doing things. We would like for the world to know us as a cultured business that you can trust to go everywhere, with tech of course,” Tshepang Masuku tells Spot-On. The 32-year-old from Tembisa is the founder of Thuma Mina Online.

Masuku defines Thuma Mina as a tech start-up that offers many solutions to enable businesses to operate in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. “However, we do offer deliveries as a service through software integration,” she says.

Founded in 2019 by Masuku and a former high school friend, Thuma Mina Online was initially known as Thuma Mina 1632. “I was the first person to introduce the Uber way of doing things at home. One day, while I was at work, my mom asked me to ‘uber’ her a McDonald’s meal as she felt a bit too ill to drive to the outlet herself. This is when I realised the opportunity to solve many community

problems – by solving the problems in my own home first,” Masuku says of the backstory to the business.

With her co-founder subsequently leaving the business, Masuku decided to partner up with digital strategist MJ Maepa, who helped her step things up with the business.

“We are always humbled when we are associated with industry players like Mr D and Uber; however, our blueprint is a very unique one,” Masuku says. “We pride ourselves on taking the time to understand African problems and dealing with them the African way. The delivery space is a large one and no one has quite figured it out.”

EVER THE OPTIMIST Being a delivery company that operates in the Ekurhuleni township, Masuku recalls being badly affected by the shutdown of Tembisa in July/August, which lasted for about three days yet caused some enduring damage. “Our business was affected by the recent protests. The first impact was due to businesses not operating on those days and some have still not reopened. Second, we had trouble fulfilling different customer needs due to the inaccessibility of roads and – most importantly – our independent drivers were vulnerable and didn’t feel safe.”

The young businesswoman is an optimist who clearly sees the glass half full. “Like any business, challenge is what brings us closer to finding the best possible ‘way’. Ours is no different. To highlight a big one: technology is not as apparent in our communities, so instead of us providing tech solutions, we often find ourselves spending lots of time and resources educating our clients rather than just converting them.”

GROWING THE BUSINESS Thuma Mina Online has two permanent employees, eight freelancers and 320 delivery partners. “We are in the final stages of launching a product that will soon change how our last-mile logistics work. With this new technology, we are going to empower key industry players to serve our target market the way they should,” says Masuku.

When quizzed about this new product, Masuku was mum. “We are in a highly competitive environment. Many businesses that have market access and resources could easily tap into that space. We cannot talk about it further till we launch – that’s when all our clients will know all about it!”

We pride ourselves on taking the time to understand African problems and dealing with them the African way”