Page 31 - KZN Top Business Women 2019 eBook

There are numerous women out of the limelight

who are doing the most for people.

retrenchments. Busi formed a company, Global grandmother has been her biggest inspiration. “Her
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Pact Consulting, recruited staff and commenced strength, wisdom, and achievements without formal
of Goodlife Foods transmission and distribution work two months later. education are amazing.”

She acquired an understanding of engineering, and
USI GUMEDE is the founder and CEO of the business became successful, employing 450 “People who have achieved something although
Goodlife Foods. The company provides natural people nationally. they started with nothing and came from nowhere
Bkefir products, which offer probiotic and other impress me. There are numerous women out of
health benefits, under the ‘KePro’ brand. Busi oversees The future seemed bright until 2009 when, as Busi the limelight who are doing the most for people.”
the overall functioning of the company, formulates its puts it, “the giant fell, taking us with it”. Eskom failed However, Oprah Winfrey inspires her with the way
products, manages production and marketing, and to make payments for eight months, and banks she has overcome several obstacles and created a
looks after customers. turned on her company due to its Eskom link. prosperous global brand. And says Busi, my children
Retrenchments became inevitable and the company are a true litmus test, I am in awe of them! “My
Busi was raised by her grandparents and “practically downsized in 2012 focusing on smaller contracts. children do inspiring things daily.”
grew up in their trading store near Bulwer”. Her
biological mother was too young to take care Feeling good According to Busi, women need a different approach
of her and became like an older sister, whilst her Consequently, Busi became stressed and very sick. to business than men. “When I started my business
grandmother became her mother and role model. She had surgery, but realised she had to heal herself. as a young person I was often viewed as a child, not
“I tried to walk like she walked and to work as hard On a friend’s recommendation she tried kefir, which a capable businessperson. I have found that women
as she did,” Busi says. Her family expected her to led to her amazing healing. Kefir which translates as need to prove themselves repeatedly and work harder
become a doctor, but she loathed working with ‘feeling good’ was however only available in limited to get the same results as men.”
blood and studied for a BTech, Food Science quantities from health shops. Busi is content and grateful for what she has accom-
degree instead. plished so far. She would, however, like to do and
Busi, perceiving a commercial opportunity; ‘cheekily’
After her studies, Busi moved to Cape Town and contacted the Danish Dairy Board since Denmark is achieve more. “When you start in business it is about
became a food selector for Woolworths and then a a world leading supplier. The board hosted her, and what you can do for yourself, but as you grow as a
quality assurance manager for the Oceania group. she learnt about the production, distribution and person, doing things to change people’s lives for the
On returning to Durban, she took over the family’s difficulties of growing kefir. better becomes important.”
traditional trading stores, transforming these into She finds that achieving a work-life balance is difficult
convenience supermarkets. However, changing This resulted in Busi founding Goodlife Foods and if you try to do everything yourself, especially as a
shopping patterns, brought about by people in the formulating products beyond what Denmark offered. single mother of two children. “Achieving a balance
townships buying goods elsewhere and criminal She is proud of making breakthroughs in her own is about allocating enough time for business and my
activities affected the business. After being shot at, kitchen including developing unique spoon kefir, children whilst leaving some for myself.”
hijacked, robbed and brutally assaulted, she closed which is eaten like a yogurt. New processes were
the stores and lost almost everything she owned. developed for the product that is now registered Busi would advise her younger self, the person she was
as a new dairy segment in South Africa and spelling at about 20, to marry after first studying and travelling,
Providing engineering services changed to Kephir. and to get more exposure to the world before starting
A marketing agreement with the advertising agency The products are available on a small scale in her own business. “Such advice could have saved me
Ogilvy and a joint venture with Ikusasa Communi- KwaZulu-Natal, but a production facility is being built lots of money and pain.”
cations followed. Busi offered marketing services near Lions River to produce Goodlife Food’s products Busi says she does not care about money anymore,
to Eskom, but an opportunity to consult and help on a large scale for national distribution. it is more important to do something for people,
with their electrification drive followed instead. She especially young women needing help to get their
had enough drive and vision, but no qualifications Biggest inspiration businesses off the ground. “This has become a passion
or staff. Fortune favoured her, however, as suitable Busi ascribes her achievements to hard work and and I am in the process of starting a fund to support
people became available following Eskom staff to grabbing available opportunities. Busi says her people to get their businesses going.”

31