The Journey of Ontebile Raplaasa Motlhaga a young agri-preneur from Mogwase

The Journey of Ontebile Raplaasa Motlhaga a young agri-preneur from Mogwase

Agri-preneur
Creator and owner of Farmersburg 

In a country that has a vast population of young people as opposed to many countries, we still find ourselves under tremendous economic challenges that have led to the high rate of unemployment amongst the youth. 
Even after the apartheid era economic freedom is still a battle that has not yet been won. Many young people are fighting this battle with the hope of winning in the end, amongst many other forms of fighting unemployment is the rapid growth in small businesses in and around the townships and villages.

We are seeing more and more young people using their creativity and different expertise in business to alleviate poverty in order to create employment for other young people in and around their communities. Starting a business as a young person with no funding or any assistance from the government or private sector can be quite difficult. Establishing a business comes with its own challenges and needs thorough planning, research, mental and emotional strength together with the necessary skills and capabilities to grow beyond the starting point.

Ontebile Motlhaga (29) is amongst the larger group of young people who we see making the best out of a rather difficult and challenging era we’re facing as young people today. He was born and bred in Mogwase outside of Rustenburg the last born of two.  He completed his Business Management Qualification in 2013.

He refers to himself as an agri-preneur than a farmer, as being a farmer relegates him to one part of the agricultural industry. His journey as an agri-preneur began in June 2015 in Kromdraai (Waterberg) Limpopo Province. The Province that recognized (winning young farmer awards district and provincial level in 2018) him as a farmer after 3 years of hard work and making his mark as a young farmer within the province. 

It all started as establishing a business with higher possibilities of making lots of money Ontebile reiterated, there was no love at all, the love started to grow about a year into the journey when he was failing at farming, that’s when he realized that there was a gap between the theory that he had collected and the practicality that had to come into play at that time. 
Experience and support from someone who had been in the industry was important but he didn't have anyone at that particular time.  The 1st crops that he planted were tomatoes (that grow up to 2m high), He didn't know anything about the variety that he planted and how to properly take care of it. The plants grew but they didn't yield any fruits at all they had flowers however, he had no knowledge on what to do at different stages. 

“I had to go back to the drawing board, I had to start by appreciating the type of soil and the weather/climate of the area I found myself in"
Both these elements spoke to what he could produce at a particular time. Most of the crops that he wanted to produce at that time he couldn't because the weather wasn't favorable as it was during the winter season. 
Ontebile stated that agriculture takes faith and patience amongst other things, that's the lesson that he learnt from the bible and the network of farmers around his circle and the farming enterprise. His love started when he had to have faith that the seeds he had planted will germinate after putting it the soil and having patience to wait for it to become a seedling and watching it grow.

 During that waiting period that's where one's level of love is displayed. Watering on time on a daily basis, scouting of the plants twice a day to look out for pests, fungus and mineral deficiency, pruning to encourage more growth and most importantly fertilizing in time. 
His company Farmersburg has always been primarily agricultural, in 2018 everything changed when the water resources ran out and he couldn’t produce anymore. At that time, he was burning with love and passion for his work, he looked around and the only available land that he had was the urban land at his parents’ house. 
He converted the land into an urban garden, were he continued to produce leafy vegetables and culinary herbs. At this point he was dealing directly with the end users of the produce, through his engagements with his customers he realized that, there was a gap on knowledge of various ways to use fresh produce.    
“I shared a couple of ideas over the phone with a few acquaintances, then one morning when I was doing my daily scouting in the Garden, I realized that I was walking through a fresh garden salad" 

During his lunch time he then decided to make himself a fresh Garden salad and used some of the fresh herbs and made a Salad dressing. 
He had made enough salad dressing to share with about six or more people, he gave it away as samples and got amazing feedback. Ontebile then decided that he will start to pair the produce with a salad dressing. The salad dressing was an amazing idea, as it now started to encourage more usage of  fresh produce. 

This blossomed into a new innovative venture for the young argri-preneur customers started sharing how they were using the produce and the salad dressing, another idea popped into his mind and gave birth to The Farmersburg Salad Experience. 
The Farmersburg Salad Experience is where patrons, get to experience the beautiful ever green garden that Ontebile grows his crops from, giving them the liberty to create their own salads from the produce in the Garden and pair it with his Farmersburg Salad Dressing. 

“The idea derived from reading about value chains of wine farmers in Stellenbosch it was in December 2019, when we had our first Farmersburg Salad Experience, which was also an opportunity to launch the various salad dressings, before the first Salad Experience could come to an end, already enquiries of the next one started coming in"

The demand of the event began to grow, a month later he started developing more Salad dressing flavors that he would have introduced, at the next Salad Experience that was scheduled for April 12 2020.”
Unfortunately, Covid19 happened and all events had to be put on hold as the country was getting ready for the Nationwide Lockdown. 
However, the pandemic has given him an opportunity to develop more products (condiments) that will be launched later in the year of 2020. 

“The biggest lesson that I have learnt to this date is that, it is important as a person to surround oneself with like mind people. 
They play a huge role in one's growth and they are able to offer the right support at the right time"

Through his journey he has met so many people, not only in primary agricultural but also in other spaces of the agricultural value chain. Most of them, he kept close in order to seek motivation and inspiration. 
The farming sector has always been a career that most young people don’t aspire to follow, it has always been looked down upon. This could have been influenced by the lack of knowledge with regards to agriculture.
In the past few years we have seen an increasingly high volume of young people opting for a career in the agricultural sector.  The advice that Ontebile can offer to his peers is that, there is more to agriculture than Primary production. 
The agricultural value chain is huge and has plenty of opportunities that one can leverage from.
 As a young aspiring farmer you need to know what you want to achieve within the industry and place yourself accordingly. 

It's always best to ask for insight to better your understanding, furthermore as far as Primary agriculture is concerned, unlike before one doesn't have to have access to huge land to start. There is an innovative solution available today, vertical farming, urban farming, tunnel farming, hydroponics and aquaponics.

Farmersburg is now a farming lifestyle brand, offering fresh culinary herbs and leafy vegetables (small scale), a variety of salad dressings (condiments development) and host of the Salad Experience.

During the pandemic he had the opportunity to reflect on his business, the offering and the target market. With the restrictions of the lockdown being lifted, Farmersburg will start incorporating healthy reasonable meal preps for individuals and families in and out Mogwase. 
Some of the produce will be taken from his urban Garden and others outsourced from local producers. This will open new doors for the company as it will give them an opportunity to get their products to the people. 
When the lockdown comes to end Farmer'sburg will resume all their services and they will be incorporated into the business offerings
Ontebile mentioned the level of hard work that is needed in this business of agriculture. It takes having a vision to be an agri-preneur, followed by that, one has to work hard on a daily basis. The industry demands time and patience for one to succeed at it.
Despite the lockdown and the current state of the country and globally Ontebile is still pushing for greater heights and new ventures to embark on. As far as 2020 is concerned, people can look out for more salad dressing flavors, more condiments at the table that will enhance the flavors of their food. Occupying more land for crop production and using some of the produce for product development.

“As a young person, I'd would like to say to my peers that the world is alive with possibilities, one just has to stand up and identify them and make a fortune out of it in the process”

As young people we come across adversities and turbulence that affect us, at times they affect our progress and that is why we need to be grounded and spiritually fed and aligned with the Creator.

“As a young agr-ipreneur, God for me is a God of second chance. When I couldn't produce anymore at the farm, I thought it was the end of it. However, it took faith trust and patience in God for me to realize that God has more in store for me in the agricultural industry"

In the process he learned to listen to God more, than continuously talking over what He was saying to him. He was able to find himself participating in various spaces of the value chain in agriculture, because in one of his many conversations with God he learnt that it was not only Primary agriculture that he is destined to do. 

Ontebile is in all essence the epitome of what excellence is deemed to be, he has come this far through dedication and commitment in his work. 

For more on his work you can follow him on all social media platforms.

Facebook: Farmer'sburg
Instagram: Farmersburg