Entrepreneurs losing hope as load-shedding cripples businesses

10 November 2021 - 07:00
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Tracy and Paul Raphaely were more excited about their Nomu products before the worry of load-shedding.
Tracy and Paul Raphaely were more excited about their Nomu products before the worry of load-shedding.
Image: Supplied

After suffering nine hours without electricity, a Cape Town businessman couldn't help but share his frustrations with Eskom on social media.

On Tuesday, Eskom boss André de Ruyter announced that load-shedding was expected to end on Saturday morning. And stage 4 load-shedding was expected to revert to stage 3 from Wednesday 5am until Friday 5am, where it would drop to stage 2 until Saturday at 5am.

But this is cold comfort for Nomu co-creator Paul Raphaely, who was scathing on the lifestyle food product's Twitter page on Tuesday. 

Today Nomu will lose nine-and-a-half hours of production time, as we are moving into one of our busiest periods, and we simply cannot produce. This is entirely as a result of avoidable, institutional incompetence that would not be tolerated in the private sector,” he tweeted.

Speaking to TimesLIVE, Raphaely said the current environment was not fit for entrepreneurs and that the government was lying to citizens by encouraging them to start their own businesses.

“Nomu is at the coal face in a cottage industry where people generally don't stand any chance of success. The country is rudderless, directionless and, now, powerless.

“Mid-sized businesses will figure it out, we have 21 years of experience, but monster companies like Nestlé [the world's largest food and beverage company] — there will be layoffs.

“I don't think we could do it again if we launched today, this is no environment for entrepreneurs and especially those starting food brands. 

“We started when Madiba was alive, Zuma was in Moscow and 'state capture' as a word didn't exist. There was excitement and opportunity. It breaks my heart because we have people with such vision in SA, but it's harder now to find the inspiration. This is not the same country I started my business in.

“It's interesting how entrepreneurs are scammed, we tell the entire population that everyone can be the next Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk,” he said.

Raphaely said it was frustrating that after the lockdown — during which small businesses had to fight for every sale — they now cannot ramp up for the festive season.

November and December are the company's busiest times and Nomu now has sufficient orders to work 24 hours a day, six days a week.

“Last night we had no power from midnight, my staff were using their cellphones to illuminate the way and it is not a safe area [in Airport City]. We have private security but it's still onerous. I don't like the idea that the staff are unsafe, they can't rely on cops or public transport.

“It's dispiriting — and we have to put up with [former finance minister] Tito Mboweni's cooking photos. As if that wasn't bad enough our newly minted mayor Geordin Gwyn Hill-Lewis is also sharing his cooking. The entire situation is sordid and demoralising.

“Meanwhile, in the short term every business sinks itself into debt trying to generate alternative energy and in the long term it will make more sense for businesses like mine to manufacture and distribute outside the country. I don't want to do that. There are 67 people relying on me. I don't sleep.”

He said that the company, and others like his, should be three times the size by now and should be investing the money back into the country.

Nomu was in a good position during lockdown and did not have to retrench because “if people can't spend their money on cigarettes and booze — they eat cupcakes.” But he called this phenomenon a “false bubble” which has since burst. 

Gauteng businesswoman Mamello Makha's Exotic Beauty Salons rely heavily on electricity.
Gauteng businesswoman Mamello Makha's Exotic Beauty Salons rely heavily on electricity.
Image: Supplied

Like Nomu, Mamello Makha's Exotic Beauty Salons in Johannesburg and Pretoria were also able to survive.

The self-made businesswoman started her business as a hair salon in Johannesburg CBD but now she boasts salons in Pretoria, Newtown in Johannesburg and “a dream come true” new salon opening in Sandton Mall. 

“Beauty is very important. No matter how broke people are they still want to look beautiful.

“But the power outages are affecting my business greatly — especially at the end of the month when we tend to have a lot of walk-in business. 

“You need electricity to do nails and hair. It's OK when the power is out for two hours, clients can wait or come back, but on Monday the power was off from noon to 5pm — we had to close. We also cannot depend on the generator because petrol costs are so high and the generator doesn't last the day. 

“Load-shedding has cost me money ... Honestly we are getting tired and we need government to come help because the economy was already bad after lockdown — people need salaries and money to survive.”

Durban's Leanne Hansman said the power situation was crippling her confectionery business The Little Cake Company.

“We usually make about 600 cakes and 12,000 cupcakes in a day and we run 24 hours a day but now we've had no power for at least six hours a day and we are losing about R30,000 a month. 

“The cold room starts to defrost and we lose that stock too — as well as the stock in the oven because we are usually given 18 minutes warning before it goes off. 

“We're also not on the proper grid. We are meant to be on zone 18 — an industrial block — but instead they've put us in another zone so we are actually being load-shed for longer than we're supposed to be. But I call and get told to email and then I email and get no answer. It's crippling.”

TimesLIVE


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