Prudence Thulisile Mokwena
Environment, Agriculture and Sustainability
Nominee's Province:
Gauteng
Project Name/Description:
Founder and CEO, RBKM Chickens
Prudence Thulisile Mokwena is a trailblazing farmer who, through her company RBKM Chickens, delivers high-quality, nutritious chickens to the South African market. She plays a crucial role in safeguarding local food production while ensuring food security for all South Africans.
For Mokwena, agriculture is more than just a business – it’s a way of life. She has showcased her business acumen in various South African media outlets, inspiring many to explore farming as a profitable venture, a means of sustaining livelihoods and a crucial factor in ensuring food security.
Her business success has allowed her to employ 20 previously unemployed youths and she continues to share her poultry farming skills with others. A certified natural scientist specialising in microbiology, Mokwena spent 12 years working as a microbiologist in a laboratory. Frustrated by the lack of career advancement during that period, she pursued further studies and launched her poultry business, which has since thrived. Her entrepreneurial journey was supported by her savings, the National Youth Development Agency and the Department of Agriculture.
She serves as a beacon of hope in the farming sector, offering training and mentorship to aspiring poultry farmers through regular workshops at her farm, which she has aptly named “You Can Be a Farmer”.
