Codi Marais, a travel-lover who worked on cruise ships as a jewellery seller for five years, never anticipated that Covid-19 would force him to come back home. Marais loved exploring the world but when the global pandemic hit, he thought ten steps ahead about what he would be doing when he touched down on South African soil and growing microgreens weren’t too far away from his thoughts.
Life as a seller of functional, luxury jewellery pieces was good. Marais was convinced he would do this for years to come but the pandemic quickly changed his perspective. The slowdown brought on by the pandemic forced Marais to re-examine his life and his next move.
“I did a lot of research on growing operations. I [thought of] starting an indoor growth set-up when I do get back home, [which] I could dive straight into,” he explains.
The grass is sometimes greener
When his cruise ship docked, Marais immediately started building the foundation of his agri-business – microgreens.
Armed with an investment of R40 000 in savings money, Marais bought a grow tent and started growing cannabis at first. Marais processed the cannabis into cookies and oils.
Through his business, HWG_organics, he now sustainably produces nutritional microgreens and sprouts. They also host local workshops on organic food gardening.
Where it all started
In 2021, Marais was exposed to a free permaculture course at Seed Community. Very soon thereafter, microgreens could be spotted next to his room, in an alley, on his property.
“The permaculture course exposed me to the inputs that go into growing vegetables. I thought if I could grow something with a faster turnaround [time] and a higher nutritional density, that would support smaller communities and under privilege communities, why not?” he explains.
Microgreens take five to 25 days to grow from seed to harvest – great news for impatient gardeners. Marias says he has a weekly turnover.
“Because microgreens are little shoots, they have the endosperm that holds a lot of energy, and the seeds are grown positioned tightly next to each other.”
Marais says he absorbed a lot of information during the free permaculture course at Seed Community. He especially enjoyed learning how to take care of the planet and himself as an individual.
The start of something magical
With a qualification in his back pocket offering information on all things permaculture, Marais started his microgreens journey.
The market access at the moment is quite good, and social media has helped boost the business a lot, Marais says.
“Social media helped quite a bit. My main focus is a how-to-grow type of approach as well as identifying the methods. I’ll soon move on to videos,” he explains.
Marais is now focused on the future. He has reinvested all the money made from his business to help it expand. Currently, he is in the process of creating vegan patties with 22 ingredients that include some of his microgreens.
Marais shares five tips with aspiring agripreneurs:
- Use what you have, and don’t overspend.
- Use social media to enhance business.
- Recycle as much as you can.
- Look after yourself and the community around you.
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