By Matilu Maria Morerwa
30-year-old Nomandla Ngcoya is making her mark in the Pietermaritzburg (PMB) business sector. The D-chem founder and CEO from the rural area of Ehlabeni outside PMB, has shown extraordinary dedication by opening a detergent company in hopes of helping her community with household needs.
The P.h.d Chemical Engineering student from the University of KwaZulu-Natal saw a need to confront defile environments. Ngcoya expressed how her upbringing in a rural settlement with hygiene concerns developed the idea of opening a business and tackling poverty. “Growing up in a rural settlement with my grandmother, we’d have one long bar soap where they cut it in small bars for all the cleaning functions, the issue of hygiene was a problem,” said Ngcoya.
She added how demand for detergent for many households has always been high, yet the supply was low. “I saw that there was a gap in my community, and I decided to fill it by manufacturing cleaning detergents, funny thing is that no one bought the detergent it took six months to sell,’’ said Ngcoya.
Through hardships of getting sales Ngcoya attained motivation from Covid19 as more residents were locked down. The demand for sanitizer manufactures became a golden opportunity for her successful emergence. “During Covid-19 there was a huge demand for sanitisers, although I was not into this business, I had to jump at the opportunity and fill the demand and that’s what makes a successful business,” Ngcoya explained.
This was her big breakthrough as she now supplies big companies with her products such as Bidvest plumbing.
