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Beyond the office
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Yvonne Fontyn
Financial Mail
Friday, May 28, 2010
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Deciding straight after matriculating in 1998 that he wasn’t “an office person”, Mpho Mnisi focused from the start on becoming self-employed. A finalist in the TechnoServe Believe Begin Become entrepreneurship development programme, Mnisi (30), is today the owner of Afuraka Crafts and in talks with a large mining group to supply industrial gloves. Operating out of Ekangala in Gauteng, Mnisi started off making leather goods, such as handbags, shoes and belts, to go with the traditional dresses his friends were making. Wanting to take the business to the next level, he approached the Umsobomvu Youth Fund, but hit a snag: “They wanted a business plan; I had to attend a workshop to learn how to write one. I also did an entrepreneur course at the Tshwane Business Club.” In 2009 he won R35000 in SAB’s Kickstart programme, with which he bought machinery. Then came the TechnoServe programme, with another R35000 in prize money, and the idea to make industrial hand protectors. “My research found a local manufacturer was needed. The gloves available on the market are all imported.” His design is with the SA Bureau of Standards and he hopes to employ 16 people once he signs the contract with the miner.
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