Video: Seleme rebuilds business
Tsakane – Though he has had major setbacks in his business ventures over the years, local entrepreneur Ronnie Seleme (42) is still working towards his dream and has not given up on doing what he loves.
This hair designer has experienced his fair share of dramas with twists and turns in business, employees backstabbing him, poaching his clients and at some stage even falling ill, but this has not deterred his dream in any way.
“I started cutting hair in Grade Eight as I used to trim my hair and a friend’s, however, people started coming to me with their machines because they loved my work.
“Since I couldn’t use the machine I stuck to cutting with my pair of scissors and from there, family and other community members began asking for my services,” he says.
After matric Seleme decided to go to college to study civil engineering where he obtained his first certificate, but fate had other plans as he struggled to get a job and had to fall back on cutting people’s hair behind his room to make a living.
“People suggested I open a salon but I refused as I lacked experience in the hair business, so I first joined other local salons hoping to increase my knowledge.
“Though some trained me well, I still felt limited as I would only be stationed to focus on cutting, so since I wanted to grow I found myself moving around to different salons a lot.
“After seeing I was limited and couldn’t grow, I opted to quit work and went to some beauty academies in Johannesburg, to learn more,” he says.
Upon completing his courses, Seleme proceeded to work at other salons but that still didn’t work for him, so he left and looked for work in other industries.
He says his clients didn’t understand and would still call him for their hair, so in 1994 he decided to open his first salon called Da Ronnie Surgery in KwaThema, but due to break-ins and other challenges, he kept opening new salons then relocating around the township several times.
After some time he changed the name of his business to Da Ronnie Hair and Beauty and the moving around continued, as the challenges did not stop. He says the constant moving around has been a great loss as sometimes he has had to leave the built-in furniture behind.
Eventually he saw things were not going according to plan, so he changed direction and opened Dread Lock Professor, just focusing on dreadlocks and he saw change as the business grew.
“I was happy with my business and able to open branches in Daveyton and Duduza Rank, but sadly this move came with even more challenges.
“The salon once caught fire caused by a hairdryer that was left plugged in, some of my employees who I trusted sabotaged my business by poaching my clients and telling them I’d closed and moved out.
“I’ve also had about 17 break-ins while I have been here,” he says with sadness.
This has caused Seleme health problems along the way but he says through prayer he is now recovering and rebuilding his business.
“It’s not easy being the boss as I teach people who work for me how to do hair, but some just leave to open their own salons without any notice which is a setback while with others, as soon as they know the work they start disrespecting you, your business and clients.
“Thankfully I’m grateful for some former employees. We are still good friends even though they have their own salons simply because they respected me.
“When you open a business, expect to face challenges and when they come, don’t give up, keep on trying,” Seleme says.
