Born and raised in Johannesburg, Shandini Naidoo never thought she would end up in agriculture, but after starting her agribusiness and making history, she now provides training to farmers and agripreneurs.
She looks back to her childhood memories and pinpoints a moment where it all started. Her mother, Dolly Naidoo, who is her main source of inspiration, was a fierce businesswoman.
“My mom was a successful business owner and award-winning entrepreneur. She owned many businesses and she made an income. She was my source of inspiration and achieved all of her success without having a tertiary education,” Naidoo says.
But it was while growing up on her grandparents’ livestock and diary farm that she learnt the value and importance of farming, and the people involved in it. She also credits her father, Rajan for exposing her to “farm-life” and for passing on his love of nature and all its wonders, as well as a love for wildlife conservation.
“To be honest, I wasn’t really interested in farming,” she admits. “But now I am quite deep in the agriculture space.”
The beginning of a beautiful journey
Her educational journey started at the University of Witwatersrand where she studied international relations in political studies, which later transitioned into law. From there she completed a two-year internship at Inlexso and a striking conversation with her mentor advocate Thinus Jacobs, sealed the deal for her.
“I sat with him in the second year of my internship and he said to me, ‘You’re never going to make the money that you want simply through eight hours of the day’. He told me to look into avocados.”
Off came her nine-to-five heels and on came the dusty field boots. She immersed herself in research, reading and learning from industry experts about avocados and the farmers’ and market spaces. In 2017 she launched her agribusiness company, AvoPort.
“That is when my dream of reigniting my passion for agriculture started, which was part of my childhood. It came from that one conversation and it literally took me away from law where I had a promising career, and I am an agripreneur now!”
A step in the right direction
When the entire world came to a temporary stop in 2020 because of the global Covid-19 pandemic, she looks back and recalls a faint feeling of regret for leaving her career in law as she realised she might not make enough money to support herself in agriculture.
She and her team at AvoPort came in as the middleman and shifted focus to the needs of the farmer. They connected the farmer to the agro-processor, the processor to the market, and the market to the farmer. The cycle was large, but it was the start of a beautiful journey.
“We need to make agriculture more attractive and appealing to both the youth and women.”
Shandini Naidoo, Founder of AvoPort
In 2020 Naidoo was nominated by her mentor advocate Tsheko Ratsheko, who she praises for being a guiding light and champion for young women, for her appointment to the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC). Ratsheko, she explains, was responsible for her nomination to the NAMC board.
Soon thereafter, Naidoo recalls getting several calls from people congratulating her. “I was asking myself ‘whoa, am I pregnant?’ I didn’t know what was happening. People were congratulating me and they were not saying for what,” she jokes.
It turns out she had been appointed as the newest NAMC board member. “It was overwhelming to say the least. A deep honour and extremely humbling memory of that day. I couldn’t be more grateful for the vote of confidence and support I received upon my appointment by minsiter Thoko Didiza.”
Making moves, making history
Naidoo made history without even knowing it.
“One of my associates Wandile Sihlobo, texted to congratulate me and sent me a list of names and I was happy for the new board, but I didn’t realise that my name was also there,” she says.
It was only at that moment she realised that history had been made. She was the youngest person ever appointed to the board of the NAMC and she was the very first Indian woman to join the board. Her journey as a motivational speaker in agriculture began.
She now provides training to young, small-scale, medium-scale farmers and agripreneurs.
“It was never smooth, it’s never going to be smooth but it has been the most rewarding and fulfilling thing of my life because I can always just never see myself get back to my corporate job,” she says.
“So, I use the experiences I have to help others. The bumps that I encountered, the mistakes I made, I make sure to talk about them so that people don’t go through the same.”
Women empowerment
As an advocate for women’s empowerment and women in agriculture, Naidoo looks at her mothers for inspiration. Both her mother, Dolly, and stepmother, Esha Naidoo, have played a huge role in making her the person that she is right now.
Naidoo wants to create a space where people who are not technically farmers gain recognition and for women to be recognised as farmers. But more importantly, she is passionate about building a comfortable platform for them to easily express themselves as women.
“We need to make agriculture more attractive and appealing to both the youth and women. It’s more than just farming. There are endless amounts of untapped opportunities, innovation and businesses for those willing to take the plunge and get “dirty” in breaking new barriers and occupying seats once reserved for a different group and gender.”
As far as Naidoo is concerned, the time is ripe for change in the sector and she intends to use her position of power in a positive way. A key priority for her is to showcase, empower and shed light on the wonder and opportunities within the agricultural sector, she says.
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