Jozi works for this family business

A family business is reaping the benefits of the Jozi@Work programme in Region C, having strangely registered a mother-and-son entrepreneurship.

Common enterprises are patriarchal in nature, usually with a father-and-son business, but this time around Thembi Matutu and her son Nzima decided to flip the charts and register theirs as Nzima and Thembi Trading, a business in which they stand equal.

“The company is one of hundreds of small township businesses benefiting from Jozi@Work, a R3 billion mass empowerment and job creation programme championed by executive mayor, Councillor Parks Tau, to take unemployment, poverty and inequality confronting the city,” CoJ in a press statement said.

The programme revolusionised how CoJ conducts its business by rather awarding work packages to small and micro enterprises and cooperatives than to the traditional, established companies.

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Nzima and Thembi Trading have been hard at work since December last year, clad in the trademark canary yellow Jozi@Work overalls. They were awarded packages which included cutting grass in public spaces in and around Roodepoort and Florida. Their company was awarded a R48 000 work package by City Parks and Zoo.

“Their remarkable work is there for everyone to see, especially along roads like Generaal Pienaar Avenue, Albertina Sisulu Road and Jim Fouché Road,” community engagement officer Cecile Retief said.

“All in all the company has 10 employees, of which six work as brush cutters.”

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MaThembi, as she is fondly known, decided to venture into business after the shoe boutique she worked for as a sales assistant closed its doors in 1989. She started working in the taxi industry, but with dwindling takings, industry violence and unreliable drivers her vehicle was nearly repossessed a few months after going into business. In later months the taxi was hijacked, killing her source of income. The family were forced to move from Dobsonville to the low-cost Bramfischerville in later years. They registered their own company in 2012 and are looking ahead instead of looking back.

Nzima said, “As small entrepreneurs the experience we gain is invaluable. More than anything, having done work for the city raises our company profile and we hope to get good references from it going forward.”

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