Although Zaza Letsholo came close to becoming an air hostess, her love for farming remained close to her heart. Today, she is building on the foundation her late father left her, not only in farming but also in understanding what it takes to build a business from the ground up.
From hospitality to medical sales and eventually becoming a top-performing car salesperson, Letsholo has picked up lessons from every chapter of her working life. She now brings those skills to ABM Farming Dreams, where she produces grain and fresh produce in KwaMhlanga, Mpumalanga.
Farming may have been part of Letsholo’s childhood, but it was not where she initially saw her future. She came close to becoming an air hostess before her career took her into hospitality, medical sales and, eventually, car sales.
While working in sales, the pull of the family land became harder to ignore. After her father died in 2009, she found herself questioning why she had access to so much land but was doing nothing with it.
“I wanted to use what I had learnt and build something of my own,” she says.
She registered ABM Farming Dreams – named after her father Amos Boy Mahlangu – in 2013, but it took several more years before she actively began farming.
In 2021, while still working as a sales executive, she decided it was time to make the move. She and her younger brother, Sfiso, started working on the farm and planned to leave their jobs to focus on farming.
However, in the same week they made that decision, her brother was shot and killed.
“I had to continue. I couldn’t just give up on what we had started,” Letsholo says.
Turning land into opportunity
Since starting her farming journey, Letsholo has continued building her skills through practical training and development programmes. In 2022, she completed FarmTogether Co-operatives Training, followed by business planning and grain processing training a year later.
In 2025, she completed the 12-month Basali Development Programme and was selected among the top 10 in its business pitch competition. Another year later, she completed the Women in Agri Accelerator Programme.
When she started, Letsholo tells Food For Mzansi, she had an idea and a vision, but no capital or machinery to make it happen.
She has access to about 1 100 hectares of land in KwaMhlanga through the department of rural development. However, she is not yet able to farm all the land because of the resources and capital required.
Related stories
- Female agri graduates take a giant leap of faith into the future
- Rooftop farmer aces Food Lover’s Market competition
- Spring chicken Mfusi runs her farming kingdom like a seasoned pro
- Agri ace Sabelo harvests solutions when times are tough
She currently uses about 120 hectares, with 115 hectares outsourced to United Seeds and the remaining five hectares used for her own vegetable production. She also uses a portion of the land for grazing her six cattle. Her production includes soybeans, sugar beans, mustard spinach, spring onions, cabbage, carrots and beetroot.
Letsholo says her background in sales has helped her sell what she grows and find markets. Her markets include her community, Fruit Stop, Afgri and Beanex, while she also sells through the Thembisile Hani Farmers Market.
“When I look back at my career, I realise that working in sales was actually preparing me for entrepreneurship,” she says.
“Farming taught me how to grow the product, but sales taught me how to take that product to the market and turn it into a business.”
Attending workshops, exhibitions and other agricultural events has also helped her gain confidence and learn more about farming. Meeting other people in the industry and sharing ideas, she adds, has given her lessons she can apply to her own business.
But capital and resources remain a challenge. “It’s the resources and capital that are holding me back. You can have access to a lot of land, but if you don’t have the finances to work it, it becomes a challenge,” she says.
Water was another challenge she had to deal with, which meant knocking on different doors for help. In 2024, Nkangala District Municipality assisted her with a dam and irrigation.
Letsholo also received R60 000 through the Basali Development Programme, which she used to buy a greenhouse and expand her vegetable production.
Building beyond the harvest
Letsholo wants ABM Farming Dreams to grow into a sustainable commercial farming and agroprocessing business, with its own machinery, irrigation systems, cold storage and, eventually, grain silos.
Part of that vision is adding value to what comes off the farm. She plans to package dry beans, pickle beetroot, dry herbs and find ways to use vegetables that would otherwise go to waste.
The farm, she says, could also become a place where young people and women gain practical farming skills, from soil preparation and planting to harvesting, packaging and value addition.
“I don’t want to just farm for myself. I want to create jobs, especially for women and young people, and create opportunities for other farmers.”
Her long-term goal is to build a business that continues beyond her. Letsholo says she wants the land to create opportunities for the next generation.
“When I look at that land now, I don’t only see a farm. I see what it can become for the next generation,” she says.
READ NEXT: WU hustler skips graduation to fund poultry business
