SINENHLANHLA Ngubane (24) spoke to SunReaders about her love of farming after pictures of her and her chickens appeared on social media.
People were inspired by how young but yet successful she was.
Sinenhlanhla from Umhlabuyalingana, KZN, told Daily Sun she started farming in 2017 when she was in matric.
“We had chickens at home, but we used them as seshebo,” she said.
“I had to feed them and make sure that they were living in a good space.”
ALSO READ: Group plants seeds of hope in communities!
When she decided to turn this into a business, her family members were uncertain. But they were proud of her when they saw it was working.
Sinenhlanhla said things were going great until someone killed her chickens in 2019.
“I was devastated. I thought it would be the end of my farming career, but things became much better,” she said.
She vented on Twitter and someone named Calvin Mathibela and his family donated chickens and even helped her with food for the chickens.
“If it wasn’t for him, it really would have been the end my of business.
“I am grateful,” she said.
She said load shedding was also making farming challenging because it was destroying lights in the chicken coops.
“We had to buy new lights in every chicken house,” she said.
“Some chickens die because of the cold and when there’s no electricity, we make fire to try and keep them warm.”
She said the key to her success was producing good quality products.
“For your business to succeed, you need to love your work,” she said.
“Never give up and use challenges to motivate yourself to do better.”
She said young people sitting at home doing nothing, especially those with qualifications, must not wait for the government to create jobs.
“You only have about 35 years so don’t wait for opportunities. Create your own.”
