Young Limpopo coffee farmer Liza Legodi, who was featured on Mukurukuru Media previously is in celebration mode after winning a competition that will help her grow her enterprise.
Legodi who farms and produces coffee in Ga-Mashashane, Limpopo, was among the winners in the Allan Gray Makers Inter-College Entrepreneurship 2024 competition.
The competition featured enthusiastic and business-minded students who competed in various categories which included artisan business, general business and technology startups among others.
Registration was limited to students enrolled in South Africa’s 50 public TVET colleges to create a culture of entrepreneurship.
This year, 36 exceptional finalists took the stage, presenting their groundbreaking business concepts across various industries with the winners walking away with a prize of R50,000, while runners-up received R30,000 each to boost their entrepreneurial journeys.
The competition afforded the finalists a five-day boot camp before nationals, a Lenovo tablet, a 10-hour session with a business advisor, and financial boosting for winners. Legodi, a young and ambitious student and rural coffee farmer who is eager to compete in the local and international markets.
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From the inception of growing coffee in her family’s one-hectare farm, it quickly became a business and, as such, that motivated the young farmer to make a bold move to enter the competition with faith in the business she grows in her homeland.
Inspired by her father’s love for coffee, Liza set out to create a healthier option with Liza’s Classic Coffee. She focused on producing organic filter coffee, free from preservatives, to ensure a pure taste and protect her father’s health and also aims to elevate the coffee experience for everyone.
“I knew about the competition from last year’s National finalist, Pheladi Ouma Mokgotlo from Polokwane. She saw me on Facebook advertising my product and encouraged me to apply for the competition which I did,” Legodi told Mukurukuru Media.
“We started at the inter-campus where I came number one under the general business category, pitched for the second time at the Regional rounds, and came number one to go to the national to represent Gauteng and my College of Ekurhuleni West Kathorus campus,” she said.
Legodi said she entered with much faith in her business and with the hope of encouraging other young minds that they are capable of.
Legodi said although the competition was tough, it helped her to learn from others and realise that youngsters out there can think creatively and develop sustainable solutions to real-world problems.
“Now I can talk to people, and thanks to the CFE at my college, my lectures, my friends, and my family, who have supported me from the beginning until now. I won the competition by pitching my business to more than 300 people and a panel of four judges in September,” she said. Legodi says she wants to see growth in her business by improving her marketing and using lessons to better customer care.
Legodi’s next move in her business is to build it to be one of the greatest coffee makers in South Africa, and she aims to finally expand her farm to enhance output as more clients come in.
“One day, we’ll provide large retail stores and coffee cafés reduce unemployment by starting in my town and helping society, and perhaps even open my own coffee business. I want my product to speak for itself even when I am not present,” she said. – news@mukurukuru.co.za
