When the whole world came to a complete stop during the early stages of Covid-19, hardworking mom Mapula Morake from Meadowlands in Soweto made a plan to keep food on her table. She started her dairy agro-processing business, La-Gomza, and she is already seeing the success.
Born in Hammanskraal, Morake believes in fighting for what she wants.
“I got into processing milk because food helps eliminate hunger. Hunger is a highly ranked problem in our country and I think we might reach a shortage of food because of load shedding. Agro-processing helps with eliminating hunger,” she says.
Motherly instinct bears fruit
After discovering that her younger son, who was six years at the time, loves flavoured yoghurts, she started experimenting in the kitchen. With no agricultural background – Morake calls it ‘motherly instinct’ – she started mixing jelly powder and milk and then refrigerated the mixture for her young one.
An added bonus is that yoghurt is beneficial to children’s health and is rich in proteins, calcium, vitamins and potassium.
As her skills continued to improve, she later started adding pieces of fresh fruits to her jelly yoghurt. After encouragement and support from her husband, the idea of processing milk to produce amasi and yoghurt was born.
“Switching to agro-processing, I was just experimenting with some of the things to keep myself busy during the hard lockdown. I did things for my family and I never took them seriously,” she says.
Experimenting with purpose
She tells Food For Mzansi that with her lack of knowledge in milk processing, she had no other choice but to sit down and conduct research on how to improve her products.
The process was lengthy and not simple but she persevered. With three years behind her small-scale business, La-Gomza, Morake now produces drinking yoghurts, fruit yoghurts and amasi, as well as fruit juices. She supplies her products to Food Lover’s Market, four Pick n Pay mini markets, Polar Ice Cream factory shops and some spaza shops in Soweto.
Morake explains that while the end result is worth it, the process is not an easy one and she loses employees regularly. “The work is too much and they leave because it’s not easy,” she adds.
“I don’t have the equipment where I can just press the button. I manually stir the milk myself and that is the reason why the people that I employ do not last longer because it is not easy to monitor the whole process. They stay for at most a week or month and then leave because the work is long, difficult and needs a lot of patience.
“It’s a long process, but with the machinery, it would be easier. Sometimes I think of quitting but I realise that I have come far and I tell myself that if I can gather enough funds I will invest in machinery to enable me to process milk faster. I don’t know how, but I believe that with God everything is possible.”
‘I believe in myself’
The hard work produces the results that she needs, although at a small-scale level. This has kept her modest in terms of marketing her product because she does not have enough resources to produce anything bigger than what she has.
“I believe in myself and I know what I want and this pushes me to work hard,” she says.
And while the business is steadily sustainable, Morake regrets that it has negatively impacted her family life as she no longer has enough time to spend with her children. Nonetheless, it is from her intimate family that she has received support and understanding.
Personal sacrifices
“My family really is my support structure because at times I don’t even have time to sit with them. My last born is nine years old and sometimes I don’t even have time to sit down with him and help him with his homework, so I rely on his brother. I don’t have family time. I told myself to rest on weekends, but orders are still coming through from everywhere.”
But, the hustle and bustle to care for her family pushes her forward and she sees La-Gomza developing into a big dairy company that will be supplying products to all South African provinces and exporting to other African countries.
“If you know what you want in life, then it is not easy but you have to keep moving forward. I would advise anyone who wants to do any kind of business to not give up because it needs patience,” she says, laughing softly.
ALSO READ: Former DJ Mchunu stays in tune on his farm
Sign up for Mzansi Today: Your daily take on the news and happenings from the agriculture value chain.
