Uyethembeka Moyo has been cooking since she was nine, so she decided to turn her passion into a food stall to help out her fellow university students with affordable food.
Johannesburg, South Africa – Uyethembeka Moyo is a 20-year-old second year Law student at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. She has been saving her monthly allowance from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) for something significant.
Moyo was taught how to cook by her mother when she was very young and ever since she was 9-years-old, she has had a deep love for it. Instead of using her NSFAS allowance for frivolous things, she saved every spare cent to help not only herself but her fellow students and general workers.
She had an idea to start a food truck selling affordable food to people on their way to work and school. When she first started looking, a container would have cost her around R40,000.00, but she managed to find a good deal and got one for R14,000.00 instead.
She sold her first meal this week and is hopeful the food stall will be a success. She is running the small business while still studying full-time so she hopes to employ someone to help so she can focus on the admin. She has had excellent feedback from her customers so far.
Moyo has an offering of different meat and vegetable dishes served with a choice of dumplings, pap or rice. Her food stall is set up in Westdene where she was born and raised. She discussed this new venture in an interview with TimesLIVE.
“We have a number of customers from around the area. Some are students because they do not cook often and others are ordinary working people who do not carry lunchboxes,”
She surprised her parents with the news of her new little business and revealed she had been saving up for it for a very long time. According to Moyo, her parents only knew her as someone who loved shopping, but she gave it all up to make this dream come true.
“They know me as someone who’s forever spending money on hair and clothes, so they were surprised to see me saving.
“When I told them I was able to start selling food, they were surprised but very supportive,”
She plans to work hard to juggle her new business and complete her law degree. She firmly believes that being a small business owner is how to combat the unemployment rate in South Africa and has a little advice for others with small business dreams.
“You just have to keep on pushing. It’s not always going to be easy, but start. Start with what you have. Do not complain about what you don’t have and make use of the little that you have,”
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