ALEXANDRA - Alex hailed as profitable home for street trading.
Entrepreneur Joseph Masingi
Alex has been hailed as a profitable home for street trading.
A budding entrepreneur from Tembisa lauded Alex residents for the success of his street-trading business.
This is a venture Joseph Masingi would like others to emulate to help dispel the negative reliance on employment by others to survive the daily rigour of our money-driven lives.
Despite his daily and costly transport and the gruelling traversing of the township streets, Masingi indulged the Alex News on his unexpected luck when he finally made a breakthrough in his street-trading business.
Unlike Soweto, where his hope of making it came as a crushing blow when the market closed him out through locked neighbourhood gates and snarls by a society he said denigrates street entrepreneurs, preferring established brand names.
“Alex residents made me feel at home. They are friendly, beckon for my services or just view my wares and products. They also recommend additional products they need or simply chat on other social issues of mutual benefit,” said Masingi, who stressed that old and young customers sought his phone number to enable them to contact him for resupplies.
Entrepreneur Joseph Masingi displays his rat and cackroack poison.
“Initially, I only plied on Alex streets with my laden trolley and I’ve now expanded into the East Bank, Extensions 7 to 10 and Tsutsumani, where customers let me in through open gates and yards and the teeming street life.”
In a good month, Masingi makes a R700 to R800 profit by selling items from face cloths, underwear, hats, belts, air fresheners, detergents, soap and pesticides, to his self-created rat and cockroach concoction which, he said, rids homes of pests for up to two years.
When Masingi became exhausted from carrying the wares on his shoulders, he invested R1 000 on steel rods, which cost R3 000 to weld into a four-wheeled trolley.
“It has made light of my daily travels and has added quantity, variety and safety of my wares. I truly encourage others not to wallow in misery waiting for that elusive job, contemplating and getting tempted into crime, when residents are ready to support street traders who bring services to their doorsteps.”
His mantra is Vuka Uzenzele (Get up and do it for yourself). Also, he commended the family who keeps his trolley and wares overnight and only charges him a paltry R100 a month storage fee.
Details: Joseph Masingi: 072 186 3317.
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