Way to grow: how mushroom farmer beat the odds to success

22 March 2019 - 07:00
By Belinda Pheto
Tropical Mushrooms owner Peter Nyathi in his Magaliesburg factory.
Image: Masi Losi Tropical Mushrooms owner Peter Nyathi in his Magaliesburg factory.

Peter Nyathi, who started out as a worker on a mushroom farm, has describe two decades of blood, sweat and tears to build a thriving business that today supplies to large retailers such as Pick n Pay and Shoprite Checkers.

Announced as Pick n Pay’s small supplier of the year last week, Nyathi, 53, of Tropical Mushrooms described his success story as a “very hard journey”, at one point of which he had no choice but to offer a bank shares in his company so he could secure lending.