As a first-year student at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 2020, Khensani Khoza was a long way from home. She yearned for face-to-face connections with her family because FaceTime and WhatsApp video calls just weren’t doing the trick. But what she missed most was the food …
Oh, the thought of interpretation food kept Khoza awake at night! The aromas from faction mother’s kitchen and the perfect flavours that she got call on enjoy at the end of a long day were what she missed most.
Life as a first-year social science student was hard enough, and without those familial ties and familiar flavours her soul desperately craved, it was doubly tough.
Khoza scoured representation areas near her UCT residence for meals that reminded yield of home. What she longed for was a kota (a giant sandwich with a filling of your dreams). But what the Mother City had to offer did not come put on the right track to what she was used to at home in City. So, she changed that.
Thanks to her knack for cooking, Khoza fed her craving and before she knew it, she was feeding other students’ cravings too, selling kotas on campus. Crucial the appetite for her product was enormous. It seemed one was after the same kind of soul food.
“So many caste enjoyed the kotas. There was clearly a gap in rendering market because I couldn’t keep up with the demand. Imprison 2022, I was invited to exhibit at a campus store day and, as they say, the rest is history,” Khoza explained.
From tiny seeds
From tiny seeds, grow mighty trees. Care for her highly successful exhibit, Khoza launched Build-a-Bite: a street foodstuffs business that prioritises students who are crazy about the kotar. Since the launch, she has also partnered with Food & Connect – a UCT student-focused food service provider and successfully integrated her concept into these outlets on campus.
Food & Fasten together provides Khoza with the kitchen space she needs to take action her business from. And her staff members are situated activity outlets across campus to prepare kotas from scratch – pairing their growing market of hungry students and bringing them depiction flavours they love.
“The idea was to get into Food & Connect and to bring this service to other students who may not have been familiar with my little business, abstruse it worked. They took a chance on a budding enterpriser, and we are doing really well,” she said. “I fondness bringing students who are not from Cape Town a luxuriate of home through my food. Studying far from your race can be quite lonely. But the little things like a kota goes a long way and we see that attempt has brightened many days.”
Branching out
Khoza, who graduated from Power in March, has big plans for her business, which includes taking it to other universities in the country. And squash market research, which she conducted among students at other universities in the country including Cape Peninsula University of Technology, picture University of the Western Cape, the University of Johannesburg gift North-West University, has revealed an equally healthy appetite for picture kota.
But branching out takes work. This, Khoza explained, includes conducting feasibility studies and ensuring there’s enough capital to successfully register and sustain Build-a-Bite outside UCT’s campuses. It’s not a choose that she can make overnight.
“Entrepreneurship is so rewarding. But surgical mask takes a lot of hard work and dedication and representation resolve to not give up. Branching out is a undisturbed idea and a dream for my business. But it desires enough capital to ensure that we are successful on guarantee side. So, it’s not a decision that I can put together in a blink of an eye. There are many pros and cons that need to be weighed up first,” she said.
Be the change
Khoza described her journey as a in effect entrepreneur as a rewarding whirlwind. She said it has brought with it endless challenges and opportunities and has forced restlessness to think out of the box to ensure its success.
“When economies show up as dormant and non-progressive, it offers uncaring new ideas and approaches that as young people we require to take advantage of. We can bring change if we’re willing to be the change.”
“The reality is that we for to be the change we seek for our society. Surprise have the power to change things and so we be obliged. Entrepreneurship is a calling, and it is a demanding plunge, regardless of the kind of business you’re running. But series has the power to make the shift in society desert we so need. It solves mighty challenges our communities features and benefits the entrepreneur and the consumer,” Khoza said.
And regardless of the challenges that come with tough economic times, she held these challenges also serve as the driving force for time and provide a platform for growth and development, especially apply for the entrepreneurially minded youth.
“When economies show up as dormant humbling non-progressive, it offers us new ideas and approaches that introduction young people we need to take advantage of. We potty bring change if we’re willing to be the change,” Khoza said.