7 minute read
LEADERSHIP
from Spotong Issue 13
by 3S Media
A HOME AWAY FROM HOME THE MAN BEHIND SAKHUMZIS, SOWETO’S LEADING RESTAURANT
Sakhumzis restaurant
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How did someone originally working in the banking sector become the patron of Soweto’s shining star among restaurants? Spotong chats to Sakhumzi Maqubela to find out all the juicy details.
What was the motivation for you to start a restaurant business?
I was working for the bank. I used to fix their computers and their ATM’s. So my area used to be quiet, at work when they needed me they would call me on my cell phone. I’ll go and fix their computer or printers or an ATM, when I come back I come back home. Most of the time my friends when they get off from work early they would come and visit me, they know I’m always at home. So now my place was gathering more friends, more people visiting me, because they know I didn’t go to work. Anyone who comes late, early they come to me, and in the end I’m sitting drinking cold drinks, beers, almost every day.
So you took that and decided to turn it into a business?
Yes. And then I would see tourists passing by in the famous Vilikazi, you know the street where Mandela used to stay. I grew up on Vilikazi Street too. So I decided if now people are coming to Soweto almost every day I read newspapers, they say tourism is going in Soweto, then I decided let me rather open a business here. Let me start charging my friends for visiting me!
What features of your restaurant are you most proud about?
Ah, its more of a Soweto feel, its not like when you walk in you feel you are in Sandton or – its more homely you know, its like a home away from home. At the same time we get tourists mostly from France, Belgium, Norway, and UK lately.
How important is it for townships to get tourist attractions, how does it help the community?
Ah, it does help us a lot because the roads have been improved and we’ve got a lot of attractions, there’s the Hector Pietersen Memorial, there’s Mandela Museum, so people are not only coming to Sakhumzi Restaurant just for the good food and the vibe of Soweto but they get to understand the country, where it comes from, where it is now, they get to understand South Africa, what is it all about.
How did growing up in Soweto inform your business practice?
I can say for me it has made me to be streetwise. And why I opened the restaurant, it was more to break that stigma that when you think of Soweto people used to think of crime, used to think of riots only, not thinking that Soweto is a place that’s enriched with our South African history, where the country comes from, where it is now. It means quite a lot to me, that’s why I opened the restaurant, it was more on enhancing the place where I come from, where I grew up and not liking it when people look down on Soweto. That’s
Sakhumzi Maqubela
why I decided let me do something, especially when Mandela said people must stop complaining about unemployment in South Africa, people must stop complaining about crime in our locations, he said people what is it that you are doing in your own capacity to create jobs or to curb crime, but then I decided let me create Sakhumzi Restaurant where I can be able to create jobs for my community, and I feel proud because we started with four people and now there are 82 people working full time here at Sakhumzi.
When you first started out what were some of the challenges that you had to overcome?
It was more on the human resources side, and the marketing of the building, because when you start no one knows you, you need to start with your brand from afresh. So those were the hard times of having the wrong people in the wrong department. So I had to overcome that, go and be skilled myself, understand what is business management, what is leadership. Corporate companies, even government departments, they lack on the leadership side, they lack on the human resources, because they’ve got the wrong people in the wrong departments, so I had to work on hiring the right people in the right departments, and yes business is profitable now.
Entertainers at Sakhumzis
Who helped you along the way?
When we started what made us to grow is I started going to government departments like Gauteng Tourism Authority, that helped me to understand what is tourism and I went to TEP Tourism Enterprise Partnership, that helped me to train me and train my staff, so that we have qualified people. Gauteng Enterprise Propeller, they helped me with the business plan because we opened businesses but if there’s no business plan then things don’t go right.
Tell us about the food.
It’s mostly Soweto traditional food where you will get your pap, you get your samp and even bread, we make our own bread, and then we’ve got rice as well and we’ve got your meat, your lamb stew, we’ve got chicken that is grilled, we’ve got tripe that you often don’t cook, and that takes long to cook, and we’ve got the normal vegetables.
What advice would you give to aspiring youth that want to open their business?
People must go to school. When they work for different companies or institutions they need to learn and not work for a salary, but they need to tell themselves if they are working let them help in different departments, let them understand what is business, what is a client, because most of us when we have money, when we are old we resign and we think we’re just going to open a business, but we forget who is the client, why will the client come to you.
If you had to sum up the essence of Sakhumzi in a few words?
Sakhumzi Restaurant is a place where the people who are serving you like what they are doing, the food is made out of love. That’s why 99% of people who visit Sakhumzi just come to eat, and people who are working there who are really excited to be helping people. They go and they smile every time, they like what they are doing.
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Technical Data
Kärcher Innofoam High-Pressure Foam System
Spray lance Max. pressure Max. water flow rate
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