After dedicating three decades of her life as a health hero, #SoilSista Minah Marendi was inspired to trade in her stethoscope for a new venture with boots and gloves, nurturing the soil.
There’s nothing more amazing than stepping out of the old and into the new with an inspired mind. After three decades in public service nursing, farmer Minah Marendi could not have asked for a better shift in her life. She has undeniably earned her esteemed place in the 2023 Corteva Agriscience Women Agripreneur programme.
Sowing the seeds early on
“What inspired me to make a small food garden was when I was working for non-governmental organisations like Health System Trusts. I was deployed to Mpumalanga, and one of our achievements was assisting the farmers to cultivate mushrooms,” she explains.
From that moment, she knew that when she retired from nursing, farming was the ideal next step. Today she owns a farm in Limpopo with a mixed-farming practice. She started with a small number of indigenous chickens, and her family loved it.
“Then I bought the off-layers, and before I slaughtered them, they gave me eggs, and I thought this could be a business,” she explains. Eventually, as time went along, she learned a lot, and her eyes opened to the possibility of farming and what it could do for her.
“Every time I look at the news, I see female farmers. I know it is difficult if you don’t have support. I am self-funded on all my projects, and it is hard,” she says.
Though the journey comes with its ups and downs, it is not one that she would ever trade. She continues to focus on future goals and aims to take the community with her. “I want to open up my farm for farmers who are undergoing their practical training,” she says.
Life-changing Corteva Agriscience Programme
As an avid reader and someone who loves to know what is happening in and around the world, she initially found interest in Food For Mzansi and started reading articles about former Corteva Agriscience cohort members. “I have [also] always wanted to be exposed to [the] GIBS [Entrepreneurship Academy]; you want to put your foot in the door,” she explains.
Marendi considers herself extremely blessed to be a #SoilSista. “I am in a group of very inspiring women. I think at the end of the programme, one of my inputs is to include men in a programme like this,” she says.
ALSO READ: Side to main Hustle: #SoilSista’s journey to farming triumph
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