Young entrepreneur uses stipend to secure a future

Masello Mokhoro has been selected as one of 26 African entrepreneurs to be incubated by the Anzisha Prize.

The prize is awarded to young entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 22 who will be incubated in a three-year programme to learn vital business skills. Mokhoro is the only South African to make the list and was chosen for the possibility of growing the business and employing people in her community. The prize was created in 2010 by MasterCard in conjunction with the African Leadership Academy. 

This year's prize includes R74,000 in funding and just over R200,000 worth of venture-building support services.

Mokhoro, 22, is the founder of Starlicious Enterprise, an agri-business in Bultfontein in the Free State, where she rears pigs and chickens.

“I started my business in 2019 because at home we were depending on a stipend I was getting from my university. I wanted to make sure that when I completed my diploma we would have something to sustain us at home,” she said.

The young businesswoman said she was raised by a single mom, who worked seasonally on farms in the Free State.

Growing up around farms led her to study agricultural management at the Central University of Technology.

Mokhoro said she bought her first broilers and pigs using some of her stipend.

“One of the challenges I faced was that some of my pigs were stolen and that set me back a bit,” she said.

She said she managed to run the business while finishing off her course with the help of her family.

“My mom would look after the animals during the week and I would come back on weekends to make sure that everything was working well,” said Mokhoro.

She ended up entering the Anzisha Prize in the hopes to up her skills and grow her business.

“I want to create employment for my community and hope that one day I will be able to do so. I am also interested in working for a bigger farm so that I can see how the farmer runs it and improve my own farm,” she said.