Mpumalanga community benefits from Lebo’s poultry business

This woman is known to her community as a successful farmer. She supplies eggs to shops and sells some to her community.

Lebo Mashigo, 32, own Eggsellent by Lebo, a poultry business that benefits the community of Kwaggafontein, in Mpumalanga, with job opportunities.
Mashigo’s business has allowed her to create job opportunities, and she has received assistance from the National Youth Development Agency and the provincial government. She told News24 that her poultry business strived during hard lockdown when the country (including the rest of the world) was hit.

A serial entrepreneur, Mashigo has started other businesses before starting the poultry farm. This mean she was aware of the failures on the past and what it took to run a successful business. She told before venturing into the business of producing farm fresh eggs, she had started a nonprofit organisation called NuBreed Music Institute, which collaborated with professional musicians to teach children how to read and write music. This organisation was so successful that she was featured on the prestigious Mail & Guardian Top 200 list in the arts category.

The poultry business was more like a hobby, but little did Mashigo know that it would be a success. “By 2020, I was already well-known in my community. When the pandemic hit, my customers grew because there were long queues at malls and shopping centres due to the lockdown restrictions. The demand was so high that I outsourced [eggs] from other farmers,” she said.

Editor’s note: A serial entrepreneur, Mashigo has started other businesses before starting the poultry farm. This mean she was aware of the failures on the past and what it took to run a successful business.

Description: This entrepreneur runs a poultry farm that is benefiting her community.

Editor: Anirlé de Meyer

Project manager: Anirlé de Meyer