The University’s efforts to inculcate the business spirit upon its students has taken a giant step forward. On 22 October 2024, an MUT Marketing final year student was given a key to her brand-new stall at Megacity. Sisanda Nkwanyana, owner of African Pride, a shop that specialises in selling Zulu and Xhosa attire, said her impressive business pitch to the Megacity management last year won her an opportunity to put up a stall at the mall. “In terms of the agreement, I won’t pay rent for the next 24 months. After that the agreement will be revised. The centre management will then ask me to pay rent based on how much I was able to generate so that my bottom line will not be affected,” said Sisanda. Sisanda thanks Ntombifuthi Mthembu, the Business Coordinator and Lecturer in the Department of Human Resources and Management, and the rest of the MUT team that is involved in spreading the entrepreneurial spirit at the University. This year Sisanda won the Durban University of Technology (DUT) Centre of Social Entrepreneurship Incubation Award. “There were over a hundred contestants. Sisanda said that she “definitely won because of the training I got at MUT”.
Sisanda said before having a stall at Megacity, she used a family car garage in Umlazi Township for her business. “I used to hire out the traditional attire; now I am doing retail at the stall, but still hire out the traditional attire from home,” said. The stall has been at Megacity for some time, but only for displaying attire. Sisanda said she sources items from all over the country, from Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, and as far as Limpopo. She said it had been a roller coaster ride, getting started. “The majority of our customers are here at Umlazi Township. We are slowly introducing Xhosa attire,” Sisanda added.
Sisanda said she was very happy with the latest development. “I am looking forward to my journey at Megacity. This is a shift from hiring out materials to retail. Hopefully this will open other doors for my business.” Sisanda has hired two people to work at her stall at Megacity, and at her home.