Meet the Absa Small Business Friday featured Small Business of the week – Mbewu.
Mbewu is a platform that gives small-scale farmers and agri-businesses the opportunity to sell directly to the public. They invest a lot of time in vetting incredible small-batch producers so you receive produce from the best local providers.
Charmaine Kearabilwe Monama started Mbewu back in 2018 as a side hustle while juggling her corporate career as a market researcher and brand consultant. The motivation was to find a more affordable way to keep feeding her family healthy foods. When COVID-19 hit, Mbewu grew exponentially, and this led to her resigning from her corporate job in 2021. This was a huge leap of faith, but it has paid off. They opened their first brick-and-mortar shop in Randburg Square in 2022.
2023 was a challenging year for retail. Loadshedding diminished their shoppers’ basket sizes as people were afraid to buy large quantities of produce for fear that it will go off at home with their freezers and fridges going on and off regularly. With this trend, Mbewu pivoted and started to offer pre-cut vegetables. These were more expensive than buying whole vegetables but saved the customer time. And even though the customers were buying smaller quantities, their price per basket was the same because Mbewu had offered added customer convenience. They also moved their focus to B2B customers. As their orders are generally larger, there is a more predictable revenue flow, together with a minimal marketing spend for these customers.
Charmaine’s is focussed and dedicated to making a positive social impact by hiring young people and partnering with local farmers and agricultural suppliers. For this reason, Mbewu operates under the motto “building healthy communities,” which is reflected in every aspect of its value chain.
In the future, Mbewu hopes to grow from strength to strength and uplift the communities they work in.