Entrepreneur Sazi Buthelezi on his “Rags to Riches”

Entrepreneur Sazi Buthelezi (30) is encouraging young professionals to not be afraid to take risks. Buthelezi says he knows the struggle of finding employment in South Africa all too well. The entrepreneur went two years without funding in-service training in-order to graduate with his Electronic Engineering degree at Durban’s University of Technology in KwaZulu-Natal.

In the third quarter of 2018, Statistics South Africa announced that the unemployment rate was at to 27, 5%. But 2019 saw a slight decrease when the rate dropped and to 27, 1%. Buthelezi says he remembers being a contributor to the statistics like it was yesterday.

“Those were very dark days in my life I would even regret going to university! I felt like I wasted my time. I was looking for any kind of job. I approached multiple businesses including Shoprite; I spoke to the manager about a job even if it was cleaning toilets. I was so desperate. I couldn’t take care of myself and things changed for the worst when I learnt that I had a baby on the way.”

Born into a struggling family, Buthelezi was raised by his grandmother since he was 8 months old.

“I was separated from my mother because she had to go and ‘hustle‘ and had nobody to look after me so I went on to stay with my grandmother. I would hardly see my mom and my father would visit us once a year in December because he had to work as well to put food on the table for everyone at home.

Buthelezi says he would walk 6 to 7 kilometres barefoot in-order to get to school.

“My grandmother couldn’t afford to get me school shoes because she wasn’t a pensioner at the time. At home we had a lot of guava trees and during the ‘gauva season‘, I would  sell them at school and give my grandmother the money I made so we can buy some bread. Back then bread was like pizza for us, it was something we only ate once or twice a month“.  He later moved to stay with his stepmother because she wanted him to go to a better school. Buthelezi admits his stepmother is his biggest influence.

“I can proudly say she is the best step mom in whole world, she always wanted what’s best for me. She was a teacher, renting a room and there were 5 of us living in that one bedroom. My little brother and myself would sleep on the floor and my two sisters would sleep with her on the bed.”

But it’s not all gloom and doom for the entrepreneur. He first struck Gold just before his son was born in 2012 and received two in-service offers. He opted to do his training with Toyota South Africa Motors and the company later absorbed him as an electronic engineer specialising in Process Instrumentation and Control.

Hlalabemzonda

With the rising cost of living, he decided to create multiple streams of income by opening Hlalabemzonda Lifestyle Shisanyama and Car wash at his home town of Hluhluwe with his business partner Nkosikhona Zulu, in Northern KwaZulu-Natal.

“Going into business is not a walk in the park.  One of the most common challenges we face as black Entrepreneurs is funding. You can have a great business idea but no funding means you can’t go anywhere with your business.”

After opening the business, he says his biggest challenge was managing it. The brand also manufactures t-shirts and plastic cups.

“I work in Durban and my business is in Hluhluwe, meaning I have to travel a long distance in-order to make sure the business is being managed well. When starting a business you have to be hands on before trusting anyone to run it for you.”

“The name ‘Hlalabemzonda’ means that people always hate on you‘ of which are the opposite of who I am because I’m a people’s person. I respect people and in return they love and support me as well. It was just my way of confusing the enemy.”

Buthelezi recently started another business venture, “Hlala Lounges” with his business partner Basil Ndlovu. The business provides essentials for events around the province.  Buthelezi is also in the finishing stages of building his two bedroom house in Durban.

“I have always wanted to have my own place; I have been declined a bond by South African banks more than 3 times before. For me, this is one of my biggest achievements. There are a lot of people who would love to own property but they can’t because of certain circumstances. A boy from the dusty roads of Hluhluwe comes to Durban to hustle and eventually he has his own place without renting. It’s the biggest achievement anyone could wish for”

The entrepreneur says he believes taking risks is the blueprint to his success.

“If taking risks can work for me, imagine what it can do for you.”

Images Courtesy: Masterpic