WeeklySA_AdminCondiment: Village boy attracts clients across the country
By Boitumelo Tshehle
When you set your mind on achieving something worthwhile, it is possible to achieve it. This is the assertion of Boikanyo Senyang of Majemantsho Village, Mahikeng, an accidental inventor of a unique sauce which has changed his life for the better. Thanks to a casual suggestion from Senyang’s partner to him to play around with several ingredients to create his own sauce after he had been dissatisfied with other sauces from local retailers.
Since then, and in just over a year, his sauce has been able to attract business from highly appreciative clients, locally, and from as far as Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape and Bloemfontein in the Free State.
Interestingly, Senyang was among millions of South Africans who were marooned in their homes during Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. Like many others, he lost his job. It was during this difficult period that Senyang decided to start a small business, to make ends meet. As a form of reference, his girlfriend, Rethabile Tsosane, gave him a recipe for a mouth-watering sauce to inspire him.
“But it was chunky, so I thought of a way to make the sauce smoother and tastier,” said Senyang. Fast forward to just more than a year later, the business started doing well. A new chapter in his life had opened. It mitigated the anguish of losing the job as an auditor at a local hotel. He now owns a company called Ezibabayo Hot Sauce.
He said receiving calls for orders from his customers for what he has described as a sauce with a tastiness that is “out of this world”, had made him realise that when one sets his or her mind on something worthwhile, it was possible to achieve it.
His sauce has several delectable flavours, almost all of which are a hit with his clients. But Senyang had started with one flavour. Common in all his sauces is the use of chillies and garlic as main ingredients.
“I came up with catchy names like ‘Green Mamba’, ‘Motswako’, ‘Chakalaka’, ‘Braai master’ and “Dead shot,’” he said. Senyang said his girlfriend, Rethabile Tsosane, had told him that, because he loved food so much, and was not entirely happy with all the sauces they had bought from the local retailers, maybe it was time to create his own sauce.
“The taste was perfect, and I could not get over it,” Senyang said. “I knew, immediately, that this was the sauce I had wanted to make a part of my dish, most of the time. I also knew that I wanted other people to taste it, as well, and enjoy it as much as I had. That is how the idea of a business had emerged.”
Senyang said even though he studied towards a Bachelor of Technology degree in cost and management accounting, he always had a passion for good food. He is happy that his sauce brand does not lose its favour and sharp taste, even when it is included in cooked meals. Added to distributing his sauces to clients in far-flung areas and in other provinces through courier service companies, he sells his sauces at the street corners. He also uses social media to market his products.
“Shisanyama and other small businesses that sell food are some of my biggest clients,” Senyang said. “Individuals are surprisingly making return purchases of my sauces.” He envisions his sauce on the store shelves of big retail supermarkets and having a factory in the future. That remains his dream.
“I will not only be making a name for myself as a village boy, but I will also be creating employment for several other people, which is something that will make me even happier.”
Senyang said he has a business partner, Mpho Moeketsi, whom he said was ensuring that he fulfils his dreams.
