Not many second-year students can say that they are the owners of a successful start-up, but then, not many students are like Minenhle Njapha.
Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa (10 June 2024) – Studying towards a BCom in Computer Science and Information Systems, Minenhle, now 26, is the founder and director of Rent a Fridge SA. The 6-year-old business currently has 101 registered customers and rents out fridges and freezers on short-term lease agreements.
In March 2024, Rent a Fridge SA also celebrated a milestone when the startup had paid off a capital investor’s loan, with interest, within less than a year.
“There has always been a greater demand than supply, but finding investors can be tough. We are very disciplined by consciously investing back into the business,” said Minenhle.
Currently, the living room of the apartment that he shares with his business partner, Nkululeko Sthabiso Mbatha, is mostly taken up with fridges, but it is a small sacrifice to pay since the equal partners in Rent a Fridge SA are committed to the continued success of the business.
“Our next step is to find bigger storage space and improve the internal systems and processes that will allow us to expand into other provinces. The idea came to me in the recess period of 2018 when I got tired of my food spoiling in res. I looked for a company that leased fridges, and could find none,” said Minenhle.
He formed part of an entrepreneurship incubator at the time for another project and used these skills he acquired to develop the idea of a fridge leasing company. He tested interest in the market, with a simple poster he designed, copied and put up all over campus.
“I was surprised that by the beginning of the next semester, I had requests from over 40 people who were interested in leasing fridges. I approached Sthabiso, who was already running Umbhako, a business famously known for selling muffins on campus, and we both put up R950 each in capital to buy three second-hand fridges, which were not in the best of conditions, but we managed to get them leased out… we had to start somewhere,” said Minenhle.
With their first business transaction taking place on 8 August 2018, the business soon thrived with a total of 6 fridges being leased out by November 2018. Minenhle applied for grant funding from the NYDA to buy more fridges and got the good news in February 2019 that the grant was approved and would be disbursed in April of the same year. With continuous reinvestment into the business, Minenhle managed to turn an investment of R950 into an enterprise turning over R150 000 per annum.
However, on a personal front, he experienced some challenging times since he lost his funding when he wanted to switch his qualification from B Eng Mechatronics to Business Management.
“The Mechatronics programme was challenging and very interesting, but it wasn’t my passion. My heart and mind had always been with business and entrepreneurship since my school days. I started many initiatives as head boy of my school. One notable initiative was organising the school’s first annual class photoshoot. Serving in the School Governing Body (SGB) as a learner representative exposed me to a real-life boardroom situation where decisions are made for the greater good of others. At res, my room was full of Forbes magazines and business books. I was also the presenter and producer of the ‘Afro-preneur’ a business talk show on Madibaz Radio which gave me access to interview incredible entrepreneurs on campus,” said Minenhle.
Sadly, he was deregistered in 2018 because he was unaware of what steps to follow in switching qualifications, and he subsequently lost his funding.
“Because I was defunded, I was technically homeless for a few months in 2019 and did some couch surfing for a while with close friends coming to my aid. I didn’t tell my family initially about being homeless, but rather kept on working on the business. I eventually moved in with Sthabiso, who has been like an older brother to me”.
Despite the uncertainties of 2020/ 2021, Rent-A-Fridge SA survived the Covid-19 pandemic as there were people who temporarily needed fridges in Nelson Mandela Bay since they could not travel back to their primary places of residence due to the restrictions of the lockdown. Although the business was not leased out, the number of active leases were just enough for the business to survive.
Minenhle also took a job at The Eco Laundry, a laundromat based in Newton Park, Gqeberha, towards the end of 2020 where he started as floor assistant. By the end of 2021, he was promoted to the position of manager.
“I enjoyed learning about the laundry business and building these professional relationships. I made a proposal to the owner to add sneaker washing services on top of the laundry services as it just made sense. Customers who bring dirty laundry can also bring their dirty sneakers to be cleaned under one roof. The suggestion was adopted and has been a success, the Eco Laundry now has sneaker washing services as another revenue stream. While working, I saw the need for a digital system to analyse the business and make it more efficient. I knew I needed to go back to university to get the correct qualification.”
He found his perfect match in the BCom Computer Science and Information Systems programme at Nelson Mandela University and has dreams of pursuing an Honours degree as a Business Intelligence analyst.
“I knew this course combined all my interests and could develop my skills. I am funded by the Hexagon Trust, and I have learnt so much on the commercial/ marketing and business process side of things that I can apply in our business. For instance, in understanding the Microsoft office packages better I have saved us so much time in automating the completion of lease agreements with clients, which was previously done manually and took a lot of the delivery time,” said Minenhle.
He is still involved on a part-time basis in the laundromat business, as well as continuing to grow Rent a Fridge SA’s markets. Having evolved from just the local student market, the company recently opened up to business-to-business clients who seasonally need more fridge storage space and fridges for traditional ceremonies, catering events or busy tourist seasons.
Department of Computing Sciences Head of the Department, Prof Jean Greyling, said he welcomes the fact that Minenhle found the right programme to study at Nelson Mandela University.
“I think it’s a great story, and inspiring to those learners and students who are uncertain as to what to study or due to challenges want to give up on their dreams. In addition to that, his entrepreneurial ventures are also encouraging,” said Prof Greyling.
Minenhle also made special mention of his mentor, Physics Head of Department Prof Andre Venter, who he had met during his days as a Mechatronics student. In addition, he also thanked his Marketing Management lecturer Siyabonga Sirayi who has shown great support of his business venture:
“We have been analysing my posters and he is giving me some guidelines in improving the way I market the business”.
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