Thando Masutu used savings from her NSFAS living allowance to help buy a maize-grinding machine, launching a KwaNdebele business that now employs nine people.
Potchefstroom, South Africa (08 September 2026) – A law student has turned money meant to cover her day-to-day living expenses into a business that is now creating jobs and helping farmers in her community.
Thando Masutu, a fourth-year LLB student at North-West University (NWU), used savings from her NSFAS living allowance to help buy a maize-grinding machine and turn an idea into SoMphalali Maize-Milling. This is a business that now employs nine people.
And it all started with a fairly simple problem, local farmers had to travel outside the area to have their maize processed, adding transport costs to already stretched household budgets. At the same time, Thando was seeing young people in her community struggling to find work.
Together with her two close friends, Jabu Gift Masombuka and Sbusiso Petrus Skhosana, she decided to do something about it.
The trio founded SoMphalali Maize-Milling two and a half years ago, with the aim of bringing milling services closer to farmers, supporting local food production and creating employment opportunities.
The business got a major boost in January 2024 when Thando approached Chief Bongani Mahlangu, known as uSoMphalali, about accessing land for the project.
The chief challenged her to come up with an idea for how the land could be used. That conversation eventually led to the three partners being given permission to establish their business on 16 hectares of land.
Her grandmother, Lina Masombuka, has run the Shuku-Shukuma Bakery in KwaNdebele for more than 40 years, giving the young entrepreneur a front-row seat to what it takes to build something from the ground up.
Thando and her partners pooled and saved their NSFAS living allowances to buy their first maize-grinding machine.
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The NSRI is Giving South Africans Another Reason to Do Something Good!That first machine has since become part of a growing operation. SoMphalali Maize-Milling now runs two maize-grinding machines from its mini-factory.
Perhaps the most meaningful measure of the business’s growth isn’t the number of machines it operates, but the number of people who now earn an income through it.
SoMphalali Maize-Milling currently employs nine people.
“Nine jobs may seem like a small number to some. To me, they represent nine families, nine opportunities and nine reminders that entrepreneurship has the power to restore hope.”
She is in her final year of her LLB and says her studies have remained a priority while she balances them with her role as co-founder of IntelliJus Law Society at NWU and the work involved in running SoMphalali Maize-Milling.
“I want this degree, and I am going to have it. My philosophy is simple: ‘Not knowing the law is too expensive’. This year I want to leave university not only with an LLB degree, but also with the ability to use that knowledge practically, to build businesses, solve problems, negotiate better, create opportunities and ultimately bring value back to South Africa,” she concludes.
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