It is not often that you hear about young South Africans actively working towards improving the reputation of their industry and profession. Sihle Ndlela and Simphiwe Majozi of Majozi Bros, however, are two such entrepreneurs creatively trying to shift the negative perceptions that exist around black contractors in the construction and property development arena.
And they aren’ t afraid to talk about it either. To date, these 20-something Durbanites have been featured on a number of radio stations, as well as in publications like Entrepreneur Magazine, Drum Magazine and the business section of The Tribune Newspaper in KZN.
We caught up with Sihle to learn more about the winning formula behind the Ndlela-Majozi partnership.
How did you and Simphiwe meet? I’ m a 25-year-old construction entrepreneur from Durban. My partner, Simphiwe, started Majozi Bros on his own, five years ago, at the age of 21.
Simphiwe and I met on a cold call while I was running my own aluminium windows and doors manufacturing business, which I started at the age of 20. I stumbled across the Majozi Bros website and I was surprised to see such a professional looking site – especially for a black contractor.
You see, the construction industry has a really bad reputation. This is particularly true of black contractors. It’ s associated with inflated prices and shoddy workmanship. The typical building contractor is in his late 40s, is always dirty, smelly, and almost always has half of his bum sticking out of his pants. He drives a van that’ s as old as his mom, and doesn’ t believe in the power of marketing. Majozi Bros seemed different, so I decided to give Simphiwe a call to try get some work from him.
What made you decide to join the business? Simphiwe and I soon discovered that we have a common passion for entrepreneurship and business, which goes back to early school days. We both had a string of businesses, from primary school right through to high school, ranging from selling sweets, loan sharking, throwing parties and selling hot dogs on the street.
We also realized that we had the same vision in terms of where we wanted to go entrepreneurially; we shared a passion for professionalism in business. It just made sense that I join Majozi Bros.
Tell us more about the business itself Technically, we specialize in the building of up market residential houses. But in reality we are in
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