Senwes Scenario Desember 2015 / Januarie 2016 | Page 15

N UUS

First Black Miller
puts Ventersburg
on the map
AUBREY KRUGER

AT FIRST GLANCE WHEN YOU MEET THE OWNER
OF SOUTH AFRICA’S FIRST WHOLLY BLACK
OWNED MILLING PLANT, XOLANI NDZABA, YOU
IMMEDIATELY REALISE THAT HIS SUCCESS HAD TO
HAVE STARTED A WHILE BACK ALREADY.

•••

8TH BIRTHDAY: THE START OF
XOLANI’S TRIP TO HAPPINESS
From a very young age Xolani
knew food was the way to success.
On his eighth birthday his father,
Victor, gave him a bag of oranges
to share with his friends. Although
he did share a few with his friends,
he decided to sell the rest to earn
some money. That first bag was
quickly followed by the second
and then the third and so forth.
A businessman in the making!
He was so committed that every
day after school, from 15:30 until
23:00 when the last train pulled into
the station, he sold a whole range
of products at the train station,
including food, sweets and perfume.
This even helped to motivate him
academically. “I was always first in
my class,” he remembers proudly.
HIS FIRST MILLING
EXPERIENCE - NGQUSHA
Because of the riots in Soweto years
ago, his father sent him to Lady Frey
in the Eastern Cape. As a 12-yearold he was there for only a year and
learned to mill in the traditional and
manual way. He explained that it is
called Ngqusha, “where you stamp
the maize until it becomes samp.”
THE SENWES CONNECTION
Xolani is very happy about his
Senwes connection. Through the
company’s joint ventures he has
a credit limit that has been set at
R600 000. He is especially grateful
because “finances are the one [