Top entrepreneur hails from the province
Mokoena proved that Females can achieve a lot after she won top entrepreneur of the year nationally and has put Mpumalanga on the map.
The MEC for agriculture, Violet Siwela acknowledged women of the province in the field of agriculture by hosting the Female Entrepreneur of the Year in Delmas at Victor Khanye Local Municipality.
Thandi Mokoena, overall winner at provincial level, proved that females are born with talent by putting Mpumalanga on the map after she was announced as a winner in the category of Top Entrepreneur: Commercial during the national awards ceremony in St George’s Hotel in Irene near Pretoria.
Mokoena is the owner of the Matsino Enterprise project which deals with forestry bases in White River.
Mpumalanga Mirror visited Mokoena’s project which is estimated at 750ha and had an exclusive interview after her victory at national level. ”I feel honoured that after so much hard work, I received a reward and above all, I managed to put my beautiful province in the spotlight and yet I don’t believe that I beat them in this category,” said Mokoena.
She started her project in 2011 and has managed to reach greater levels. “The reason why I’m in this field, is because I fell in love with agriculture at an early age. At school I had it as a subject and I believe that it’s the backbone of our economy and from there, I never looked back,” she explained.
Mokoena said she was ready to assist other women who was interested in forestry or agriculture. “I’m not saying that I am an expert in this field, but the little that I gained I’m willing to share with other women because I have realised that poverty is still one of the challenges that is faced by women, especially those who are in deep rural areas.
I believe that if we take agriculture very seriously, we can eradicate poverty in our societies,” she explained.
She alluded that if people wanted to survive in this field, they needed to start small and then aim higher.
“In order for us to address all the problems faced by women, we need to unite. ‘Siyeke umona, sifunde nokubambisa ngoba lelizwe lidinga abo mama abayimbumba’ and we must be business-minded people. I’m exporting to other countries like Maputo,” she explained.
Being a sustainable commercial farmer in the province is Mokoena’s biggest wish. Starting the project has not only benefited her alone, but also assisted people in surrounding communities in terms of creating job opportunities since her project involved different fields of agriculture such as farming and exporting vegetables.
