Video: Tshabangu is boss
Tsakane - Every Friday morning while many set out to go to work, Johannes Tshabangu (63) heads off to the Springs Advertiser offices to collect his batch of African Reporter newspapers which he will sell for the day.
He then packs them in his car and sets off to start his day at his selling point in Tsakane, where his clients eagerly wait to see him and to catch a glimpse of some weekly local Kwatsaduza news.
Tshabangu says he is proud of his accomplishment of being able to be his own boss by just selling this newspaper every Friday.
“I really enjoy doing it as I’m my own boss and through the money I get from the business I am able feed my family, and I am able to make 100 percent profit from each newspaper I sell.
“When I began selling the paper in 1993, I saw this as a business opportunity, so in my first week I started by ordering 80 copies.
“The papers ran out so quickly that the following week I increased my stock to 150 newspapers,” he says.
He adds that what is good about such a business is that it depends on the work you put in and the number of newspapers you sell, as when you do well, you can make a good living from it.
After a while of selling the newspaper, demand became higher, leading Tshabangu to increase his weekly order to 200, which he says he kept to for a while.
In other weeks, though, he would add an additional 50 copies, just in case more people came his way.
“In 2003 my business blossomed and I was able to start ordering 500 to 600 papers in a week, and now that I’m no longer working and just focusing on this newspaper business, I am strictly ordering about 1 000 copies.
“I’m pleased, as my business of selling the African Reporter is doing very well and growing day by day.
“I have my loyal clients who I appreciate and enjoy seeing every Friday, and because of their support I have been able to turn this self employment into a family business,” he says.
While Tshabangu works in the morning and afternoon, when his sons get back home they take over and carry on selling where he has left off for the day.
Thereafter he has six days in a week to go about doing his other business, which is an opportunity he says you will never find.
Tshabangu encourages other locals to register and start selling the newspapers so that they too can become their own boss or create work opportunities for others.
