Siphiwe Mfundo Mjwara

Youth in Agriculture

Nominee's Province:
Kwazulu-natal

Age:
30

Project Name/Description:
Mbelu Poultry Farm

More info:
https://www.facebook.com/siphiwe.mjwara

Siphiwe Mfundo Mjwara, 30, is a proud owner of Mbelu Poultry Farm in Umlazi, Durban. He understands the value of food security and the importance of creating jobs. He started his poultry business in 2021. He already had a passion for poultry farming, and, after losing his job in 2020, he had to come up with a plan to feed his family, including his six-year-old daughter. He then turned a backroom at his home into a coup and raised R2 500 that he used to acquire feeders, lights, food, day-old broilers and sawdust. The business has two full-time employees and two casual workers. The production is currently 200 chicken per cycle. While he’s doing well, he feels the pain of being a start-up. “The challenge I have is getting and securing guaranteed clientele. Not getting customers means no sales and that means I spend more on food and other things needed to take care of the chicken,” says Mjwara, an Electrical and Electronics Engineering graduate from the University of Johannesburg.