Sakhumzi’s Restaurant

The work that he did do, Sakhumzi did really well. His job was to fix the ATMs and computers of a major bank. But when he fixed them they stayed fixed, so Sakhumzi had plenty of time during the day to hang around the house he had inherited from his parents in the famous Vilakazi Street, Orlando West, Soweto.

“I’d sit at home and see all of these tourists going past. I’d read that tourism was a booming business in South Africa and I started thinking about what I was doing with my life.”

When his friends knocked off from work they loved to drop in to have a beer with the gregarious Sakhumzi. And they would stay, and have to be fed.

How Mandela changed his life

While he was wondering about the future direction of his life, Sakhumzi saw former president Nelson Mandela giving a speech in which he asked his fellow South Africans what they were doing to curb crime and create jobs, instead of simply blaming their government. That got Sakhumzi thinking. What was he doing to improve his own life and those of others?

The result of this thinking was that Sakhumzi gave up the bank after 13 years. “I resigned and put everything I had, my provident fund, everything, into my new business. I also took out an overdraft for about R40,000 to start my restaurant. I had no choice but to succeed. There was no going back.”

His wife, Bukelwa, was a dab hand in the kitchen. Everyone – including his scrounging friends – loved her cooking. It was time to turn Sakhumzi’s gift for hospitality and Bukelwa’s culinary skills into a business.

That was seven years ago. Today Sakhumzi’s Restaurant is a must-do stop for hundreds of foreign and domestic tourists visiting Soweto. It’s also a popular watering hole and dining spot for locals. The restaurant can seat up to 350 – and it often does when big corporate customers book the venue for their staff or clients.

Food, mostly served buffet-style, combines local traditional foods such as lamb intestines, tripe, samp and beans, pap and steamed bread - with a nod towards the dietary expectations of customers who might be put off by offal. There are plenty of fresh vegetables on offer; creamed spinach and butternut and a choice of salads. Plus more traditional dishes like lamb stew or spicy chicken.

Sitting on a gold mine

Sakhumzi was right in thinking that the house he had inherited, and which he now admits he was only using half of, was a vibrant business in the making. This entrepreneur now travels the world, seeking out new markets and, as he puts it, “finding the new customers we can turn into regular customers”.

Putting Sakhumzi in touch with new customers is TEP, an organisation which the 37-year-old says has been invaluable in helping him to market and network what was once a little restaurant in a township called Soweto. TEP, Sakhumzi hastens to add, has also helped him and his staff with training, including a valuable financial management course. A favourite motto of his is: “What we don’t know, we need to find out.”

By the end of 2009, if he realises his ambitions, there will be a second Sakhumzi’s Restaurant. By the following year he hopes to have replicated his winning recipe in two locations in northern Johannesburg. The most enduring spin-off of such expansion, Sakhumzi believes, would be the jobs it will create. The former bank technician now employs 42 people; 38 of them full-time.

While he used to wonder how he was going to fill his days, now he has no such problem. In the office at 8am, Sakhumzi rarely gets away before 10pm during the week. On weekends you will often find him at the restaurant until 2am.