• Latest
  • Trending
  • All
  • News
  • Lifestyle
Uzair Essack was earlier named as one of Forbes Africa's 30 Under 30 leaders. Photo: Supplied

From ‘write-off’ to multi-award-winning international crop exporter

14th July 2020
Seasonal agricultural workers sorting hops after a harvest. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Seasonal farmworkers: ‘We need our UIF money to survive’

17th August 2022
Dr Peter Oberem (right), the founder of Afrivet Southern Africa, with Ronan Smith, Bimeda’s chief executive for the Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific division. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Bimeda’s Afrivet takeover ‘to strengthen animal health offering’

17th August 2022
ADVERTISEMENT
Agriculture, land reform and rural development minister Thoko Didiza has placed a 21-day ban on the movement of cattle across South Africa due to foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

SA battles 116 FMD outbreaks amid 21-day cattle ban

16th August 2022
Illegal sand mining poses a threat to many ecosystems, human safety and agricultural practises. Photo: Pixabay

Will the world run out of sand?

16th August 2022
Organic certification is a long, but rewarding process. Photo: Supplied/Food for Mzansi

How to get the ball rolling on organic certification

16th August 2022
This #SoilSista’s poultry farm puts quality first

This #SoilSista’s poultry farm puts quality first

16th August 2022
Prof. Theo Venter gives his take on the ruling party’s recent policy conference and what it means going forward. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Fixing agri challenges: ‘ANC no longer has a choice’

16th August 2022
The Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Ms. Thoko Didiza, MP has taken the decision to suspend all movement of cattle in the whole country. The Ministers decision is aimed at halting the continued spread of Foot and Mouth Disease in the country. It also means that cattle may not be moved from one property to another for any reason for a period of 21 days reviewable weekly. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

FMD battle: Govt prohibits movement of all cattle

16th August 2022
Justin Platt, founder and CEO of Zylem and RegenZ argues that instead of basing management decisions on a purely rational and cognitive approach, farmers need to harness (and trust) their unique intuition. Photo: Supply/AdobeStock

Farmers, trust your intuition and go with your gut

16th August 2022
Leanne Gammage and Jackson Andrew, co-founders of Masterstock Cape Wild Food. Masterstock Cape Wild Food is a speciality salt brand focused on regenerative agriculture. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Agripreneur 101: Regeneration at the heart of this salt company

16th August 2022

R350 grant puts sisters on agri path to success

15th August 2022
The uMngeni Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal is supporting local farmers through a new agricultural unit that has been established in the municipality. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Farmer support: KZN municipality leads the way

15th August 2022
  • Home
  • News
  • Changemakers
  • Lifestyle
  • Farmer’s Inside Track
  • Food for Thought
11 GLOBAL MEDIA AWARDS
Wednesday, August 17, 2022
Food For Mzansi
  • Home
  • News
  • Changemakers
    • All
    • AgriCareers
    • Entrepreneurs
    • Farmers
    • Groundbreakers
    • Innovators
    • Inspiration
    • It Takes a Village
    • Mentors
    • Movers and Shakers
    • Partnerships
    Leanne Gammage and Jackson Andrew, co-founders of Masterstock Cape Wild Food. Masterstock Cape Wild Food is a speciality salt brand focused on regenerative agriculture. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

    Agripreneur 101: Regeneration at the heart of this salt company

    R350 grant puts sisters on agri path to success

    The uMngeni Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal is supporting local farmers through a new agricultural unit that has been established in the municipality. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

    Farmer support: KZN municipality leads the way

    This drone is collecting data which farmers can then access on the yield management platform. Photo: Supplied/Aerobotics

    How the Internet of Things is transforming agri

    His life took a turn for the worst when he ended up in jail for dealing in drugs, but Thembinkosi Matika turned his life around and now helps others through his Legacy Farming Project. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

    Drug dealer turned farmer ploughs back

    Christo Van der Rheede is the executive director of Agri SA. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

    Former music teacher leads agri’s greatest symphony

    Agripreneur 101: Creating a beauty brand

    Agripreneur 101: Creating a beauty brand

    Claire and Martin Joubert have sacrificed and struggled to become top breeders of Ankole cattle in South Africa. But giving up was never an option, because they wanted to offer only the very best Ankole genetics in the country. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

    Farming couple lives and breathes Ankole cattle

    Tackling climate change, one tree at a time

  • Lifestyle
  • Farmer’s Inside Track
  • Food for Thought
No Result
View All Result
Food For Mzansi

From ‘write-off’ to multi-award-winning international crop exporter

by Sinesipho Tom
14th July 2020
in Agribusiness
Reading Time: 6 mins read
A A
Uzair Essack was earlier named as one of Forbes Africa's 30 Under 30 leaders. Photo: Supplied

Uzair Essack was earlier named as one of Forbes Africa's 30 Under 30 leaders. Photo: Supplied

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

When 27-year-old Uzair Essack saw his peers graduate two to three years before him, he never imagined that he would one day own a multi-award-winning export company that would gain him acclaim as one of Forbes Africa’s 30 under 30.  

Essack is founder and managing director of CapeCrops, a supplier and distributor of fruit and vegetable to clients on the African continent and the rest of the world. He was recently singled out as one of the “men and women forging ahead with credible, creative and profound strategies to shape our tomorrow” by the Africa edition of American business magazine Forbes.

He was born into what he calls an ambitious family in Mayfair, Johannesburg. They instilled the importance of education in him from a young age and it seemed like his path to success was paved for him.

His mother, Shameela Minty, is an academic who would help him with his homework and push him to get good results. His businessman father, Ebrahim, taught him entrepreneurship and how to be street smart. At the end of high school he made his parents proud by completing matric with 7 A’s with mostly 90% aggregates. 

Imagine everyone’s surprise when, in the years to come, he fell in with the wrong crowd and was swallowed up by the social scene at the University of Cape Town. He partied with friends and didn’t have much interest in university.

“I think when I came to Cape Town, I came here for the wrong reasons. I was going downhill and a lot of people wrote me off,” he says. 

It took Essack six years to complete a three-year Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) degree. He finally obtained it at the age of 23. 

Then, Instead of finding a corporate job after graduation, he took what seemed like the more risky route. He followed his first love and like his father before him he ventured into the entrepreneurial sphere.

This is where he would find his success, although the path that took him there was by no means straight-forward. 

“I didn’t wake up one day saying ‘let me start a fruit export business’. It kind of fell into my lap and I just ran with it,” Essack says.  “One business sort of leads to another.”

Just before CapeCrops, he was importing rice from Pakistan and India and selling it to local distributors, supermarkets, and restaurants in Cape Town. One of his contacts received an inquiry from Saudi Arabia for pineapples and Essack sourced them for him. After a few successful deals, CapeCrops was born. The company now employs 12 people.

Essack says that breaking into the agricultural industry as a 23-year-old Indian man was difficult. The industry is mainly dominated by white males from the age of 45-50 plus, he says. Getting access to capital was another challenge, because the agricultural industry is a very capital-intensive industry.  

‘Don’t be too hasty in business’

The agricultural export business has its own unique challenges, Essack says. “I’m dealing with perishable fruit. You have to go through thirty to thirty plus days journeys exporting fruit to other countries. So, learning how to manage that and deal with such issues was also quite challenging for me,” he explains. 

He got his big break when he closed his first deal in Qatar, one of the richest countries in the world. His revenue grew exponentially, which enabled him to expand his business.  

“One of the biggest lessons I learned is not to try and go too big too quickly. With any deal I have, I’ve learned to take it one step at a time.”

Even if a customer wants to do 40 or 50 containers of business in the first year, Essack prefers to take it slow and careful. “I think its important to rather do things slowly and do a quarter of that and build the business up over the next few years. If for whatever reason mistakes are made if it’s on a smaller scale then. It will be much easier to deal with and to manage,” he says. 

He believes his business model sets him apart from competitors. “When we compare our look and feel to our competitors, we can see that our business is a 2020 company. We are brand new and we have that Apple look: clean, modern and professional.” When you look at competitors’ websites, brochures, and logos, he says, you will see that they are 50-plus-year-old companies. He believes this up-to-date identity helps them take up a lot of the market share. 

He advises aspiring entrepreneurs to “never give up. I lost my first big deal worth R1 million at 23 years old and I was a million rand in debt. If I had quit, then I would not have what I have today. But because I persevered, and I didn’t give up, things changed over time. Never give up and believe in yourself,” he says.

Tags: Cape TownCapeCropsExportsUzair Essack
Share196Tweet123Send
Previous Post

Back to school: Don’t ignore kids’ coronavirus anxiety

Next Post

Farming communities in the rest of Africa disrupted by covid-19

Sinesipho Tom

Sinesipho Tom

Sinesipho Tom is an audience engagement journalist at Food for Mzansi. Before joining the team, she worked in financial and business news at Media24. She has an appetite for news reporting and has written articles for Business Insider, Fin24 and Parent 24. If you could describe Sinesipho in a sentence you would say that she is a small-town girl with big, big dreams.

Related Posts

Ukraine currently sits with 22 million tonnes of grain in its silos. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Russia-Ukraine grain export deal: Good news if it holds

by The Conversation
27th July 2022
0

In case you missed it: Russian and Ukrainian ministers have signed separate but identical agreements a few days ago to...

POULTRY: China has become a significant soybean consumer, as the country imports over 60% of globally traded soybeans. Photo: Supplied/JJ Gouin

China okays GM maize and soy: Why it matters for SA

by The Conversation
17th June 2022
0

China has removed the last hurdle for its farmers to grow genetically modified crops. Leading agricultural economist Wandile Sihlobo writes...

Apples and pears, wine, and grapes were among South Africa's main export commodities in the first quarter of 2022. Photos: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Agri exports slightly up, trade surplus dramatically down

by Staff Reporter
13th June 2022
0

In case you missed it: We now have the trade data for the first quarter of 2022 and year-on-year exports...

A new lab in Stellenbosch will allow scientists to develop and test for fruit quality and insect mortality simultaneously. Photos: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

New phytosanitary lab a health boost for fruit exports

by Zolani Sinxo
9th June 2022
0

Every fruit exporter in Mzansi will tell you that the export market is tough. That is why local farmers welcome...

Next Post
The covid-19 situation has crippled the economy to an extent that women have been reduced to mere housekeepers.

Farming communities in the rest of Africa disrupted by covid-19

Illegal sand mining poses a threat to many ecosystems, human safety and agricultural practises. Photo: Pixabay
Climate Change

Will the world run out of sand?

by Lucinda Dordley
16th August 2022
0

Will we ever run out of sand? Experts think it is unlikely, but illegal and irresponsible mining of the resource...

Read more
Organic certification is a long, but rewarding process. Photo: Supplied/Food for Mzansi

How to get the ball rolling on organic certification

16th August 2022
This #SoilSista’s poultry farm puts quality first

This #SoilSista’s poultry farm puts quality first

16th August 2022
Prof. Theo Venter gives his take on the ruling party’s recent policy conference and what it means going forward. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Fixing agri challenges: ‘ANC no longer has a choice’

16th August 2022
The Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Ms. Thoko Didiza, MP has taken the decision to suspend all movement of cattle in the whole country. The Ministers decision is aimed at halting the continued spread of Foot and Mouth Disease in the country. It also means that cattle may not be moved from one property to another for any reason for a period of 21 days reviewable weekly. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

FMD battle: Govt prohibits movement of all cattle

16th August 2022

Food may soon be cheaper. What’s the catch?

Relief! Govt convinces EU to save SA citrus

This week’s agriculture events: 15 to 18 August 2022

Seasonal farmworkers: ‘We need our UIF money to survive’

Fixing agri challenges: ‘ANC no longer has a choice’

SA battles 116 FMD outbreaks amid 21-day cattle ban

THE NEW FACE OF SOUTH AFRICAN AGRICULTURE

With 12 global awards in the first three years of its existence, Food For Mzansi is much more than an agriculture publication. It is a movement, unashamedly saluting the unsung heroes of South African agriculture. We believe in the power of agriculture to promote nation building and social cohesion by telling stories that are often overlooked by broader society.

Seasonal farmworkers: ‘We need our UIF money to survive’

Bimeda’s Afrivet takeover ‘to strengthen animal health offering’

SA battles 116 FMD outbreaks amid 21-day cattle ban

Will the world run out of sand?

How to get the ball rolling on organic certification

This #SoilSista’s poultry farm puts quality first

  • Our Story
  • Contact Us
  • Cookie Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Copyright

Contact us
Office: +27 21 879 1824
News: info@foodformzansi.co.za
Advertising: sales@foodformzansi.co.za

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Changemakers
  • Lifestyle
  • Farmer’s Inside Track
  • Food for Thought

Copyright © 2021 Food for Mzansi

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.