Philisiwe Sibiya has harnessed her 15 years’ experience in the telecoms industry in different parts of the African continent to establish her own company, African Basket.
Sibiya, a chartered accountant by profession, left her job and started her business in 2018.
“African Basket is about bringing and showcasing ingredients and cuisine especially from the continent, but also from around the world that could be shared with others who are looking for the same experience.
“Whether you are from the Eastern Cape or Malawi, Kenya to Senegal, we make everyone feel at home. I am the CEO of the business with a clear vision of taking the company to greater heights. I therefore work at a strategic level, ensuring that we have a well-defined culture,” she said.
Born in Nquthu in Umzinyathi district municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, the 45-year-old entrepreneur became the architect of her business with the intention of drawing her customers back to their roots through an enterprise that sells and distributes African food.
Through carefully selected products, her business brings the taste of home to life for people all over South Africa and the world in both walk-in and online stores.
With its head office in Sandton, Johannesburg, Sibiya owns 16 stores in Gauteng, Western Cape and Limpopo.
She says that the inspiration behind the formation of African Basket was her love for homemade food.
Sibiya says she experienced many challenges when building up African Basket, and had to work hard to get funding and negotiate with clients to buy her products.
“Being a start-up business, the challenges have been many… funding, expertise, learning the business, import and export as well as legalities in different countries. There have been many lessons. But every challenge is really an opportunity.
We have had the opportunity to continue to improve ourselves as we grow.
“Some big lessons have been on how we do business, establishing ourselves in the right locations over time and not being afraid to move our stores when there are spots that will bring us higher value,” she said.
She says that her business got funding from the Small Enterprise Finance Agency (Sefa) to purchase a state-of-the- art production plant to produce maize meal and samp.
“Sefa was instrumental in granting us funding for our mill.
“The capital injection has enabled us to start operating at a different level, which allows us to deliver the taste of home to many more people across South Africa but also going into the rest of Africa, which is very exciting.
“Our business is supplying big retailers across the country,” she said.
African Basket produces products such as dairy, maize meal, samp, beverages, cereals, snacks and sweets as well as sauces and condiments.
The company employs 111 people who work at the production plant, stores and the warehouse, where 65% are women.
Apart from African Basket, Sibiya is the founder and chairperson of the Shingai Group, where her business interests lie in mining, food and beverages, power and gas, construction, real estate and environment, ICT, healthcare and financial services.
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