At a tender age of 22 Gugulethu Siso embarked on an entrepreneurial journey by co-founding 99 Investments, a trolley management company based in Namibia. Now at 28, she is the founder of Thumeza, an award-winning Zimbabwean-based Logistics Company which is also part of the Google for Start-ups Accelerator Program. She has been exposed to the struggles of a typical young black woman in business and she reveals that the prevailing business environment has taught her to think on her toes.
At a tender age of 22 Gugulethu Siso embarked on an entrepreneurial journey by co-founding 99 Investments, a trolley management company based in Namibia. Now at 28, she is the founder of Thumeza, an award-winning Zimbabwean-based Logistics Company which is also part of the Google for Start-ups Accelerator Program. She has been exposed to the struggles of a typical young black woman in business and she reveals that the prevailing business environment has taught her to think on her toes.
Gugulethu was born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe where she did primary education up to sixth grade then left for Namibia. Soon after high school, she enrolled for a Business Administration undergraduate degree at the University of Namibia. She was fortunate to join Global Business Labs, a Swedish-based business accelerator, serving as a business development intern. This exposure nurtured her interest in Entrepreneurship as it brought her closer to young entrepreneurs and the challenges they face in running businesses. “I got to understand the challenges entrepreneurs face in market development and complicated tax-related issues. In business one plus one is not equal to two, you subtract tax as well,” she said.
We were not prepared for the consequences of Venture capital
After completion of internship, Gugulethu co-founded 99 Investments a trolley management company. The company offers trolley guards and trolley repair services to major retailers in Namibia including Shoprite, Checkers, Woolworths and Food Lovers’ Market. It seeks to curtail trolley theft and extend a trolley’s useful life span from an average of 4 months to over 9 months. Each trolley costs around R2 800 to replace thus the services enabled retailers to cut down on capital expenditures. Under her able guidance as the Chief Executive Officer, 99 Investments secured 8 Million Rands in venture capital funding in 2016. Gugulethu reveals that they were not prepared for the consequences of the involvement of Venture capitalists in their business. She faced tremendous pressure trying to balance the needs of the organisation and those of the shareholders who needed a return on their investment. “We were naïve when we approached them, we thought money would solve all our challenges but it resulted in a lot of frustrations as a lot of processes in our businesses were not ironed out from the start,” she stated. After disagreements over the direction the organisation was to take, Gugulethu sold off her shares and left the company to start a new organisation, Thumeza, in 2018.
Thumeza has a Partner Driver Program where small-scale transporters are registered to enables them to service large enterprises
The name Thumeza was derived from ukuThumeza a Ndebele word which means ‘to ask someone to carry something for you’. It is a logistics platform that enables coordination of cargo transportation for enterprises in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry. The company matches businesses with transporters and currently offers 2 services namely the In-transit service and the Last Mile service. The In-transit service is for loads from 1 tonne to 30 tonnes whilst the last mile service assists businesses to deliver products to their end users for cargo ranging from 1kg to 500kgs. Thumeza has a Partner Driver Program where small-scale transporters are registered to a network that enables them to service large enterprises under the Thumeza brand. “Most small scale transporters do not have minimum requirements to service larger companies such as tax-clearance, fleet scale or in-transit insurance. The Partner Driver program enables them to operate under the Thumeza umbrella as we meet the minimum requirements and we handle all the invoices and on the ground operations for greater accountability,” she stated
To date, Thumeza has done over 800 trips and has managed to register a fleet of over 320 trucks on its Partner Driver Program. They are driven towards being a logistics data aggregator in the Southern African region where the company would have details for any random truck on the road. “Thumeza should have the concise details for example who the owner of a truck on the road is, what it is carrying and where it is headed,” she said. As an organisation they have managed to become the second Zimbabwean company to be accepted into the Google for Start-ups Accelerator Program after Phenomenon Technologies founded by Nkosana Masuku. Gugulethu reveals that the experience has given her team access to mentorship and exposure that they did not have before. “When you are in your country, in your own little space you tend to think small. You forget that there is a world out there. The program opened my eyes to opportunities beyond Zimbabwe,” she revealed.
Own up to mistakes when wrong than to make excuses and cover up.
Gugulethu acknowledges that the most satisfying aspect of her business journey has been the impact it has had on other businesses and the economy as well. “It is gratifying to know that our solutions are appreciated even by large players in the economy. I am grateful to TM PicknPay for taking a chance on us and giving us credibility,” she revealed. As an upcoming business made up of young people without much experience she admits that they have made some errors along the way. They have been kept going by taking responsibility and having unwavering enthusiasm over client needs. She urges other entrepreneurs to own up to their mistakes when they are wrong than to make excuses and cover up.
The Zimbabwean economy teaches you to think on your toes and to think outside the box
With all the success she has scored Gugulethu reveals that she has moments of self-doubt where she feels like giving up. She has managed to soldier on as a result of a strong support structure she receives from other entrepreneurs such as Nkosana Masuku and Kudakwashe Dhliwayo. They inspire her to keep going by other by how they have kept going despite the volatile Zimbabwean economy. She is certain that Zimbabwe offers more opportunities as it has more challenges in comparison to her previous experience of running a business in Namibia. She also takes the uncertain and unpredictable economic factors as continual lessons. “The Zimbabwean economy teaches you to think on your toes and to think outside the box. I believe if I can succeed in this economy I am better set to make it anywhere else in the world,” she stated.
