Meet - Njabulo Mbokane, 25 years old South African born inspirational and award-winning Farmer and Agripreneur. She runs a 200-hectare farm in Mpumalanga, South Africa, employs 3 full time & 18 seasonal staff. Supplies - South African Breweries (SAB) with yellow maize and is expanding into livestock.
Mbokane started off selling fish and chips to earn a living and take care of her son. Her family didn’t have the means to pay for her tertiary education.
She began working at a local school’s vegetable garden. The school’s garden had effectively stopped operating because of financial constraints but Njabulo offered to cover the costs to reboot the operation, so she could gain more farming experience.
She went on to lease five acres to grow soya beans which failed. Next, she partnered with a commercial farmer, who was able to provide machinery and other inputs. Njabulo took on an additional 37 acres and this time it worked.
In 2018, she took the biggest risk when she rented another 200-hectare farm in Ermelo which was closer to where she lives and it’s bigger. She won the SAB Young Emerging Farmer of the Year Award 2019. $ads={2}