The restaurant market still hungers for healthy options. This entrepreneur is feeding that need, serving earth-conscious customers and gym junkies.
HER DESPERATION FOR A healthy meal fueled the fire for business.Leigh Klapthor, 31, couldn’t find enough eateries that sold healthy food that was not bland, so decided to start her own.
“It is no fun to go out with friends and you are always the girl with the green salad,” she says.
“I wanted to find a way where being healthy is not such a chore and I also wanted for it to be affordable.”
Klapthor, who dropped out of a course in marketing communications at the University of Johannesburg, ditched a job in corporate marketing to pursue her passion for food.
In 2017, she started Sprout Café at the Stoneridge Centre in Edenvale in Johannesburg with a loan she received from her husband’s business and money that was given to them as a wedding gift.
“Everybody underestimates what everything will end up costing [when starting a new business]. In my mind, I thought R150,000 ($10,588) would work. I thought I would get my shop fitting and everything done and in the first month we would be able to pay salaries with the money we make,” says Klapthor.
But she soon realized the unforeseen challenges faced by many entrepreneurs. She had to eventually pump in a capital of R350,000 ($24,706) to start the venture.
“So I had a couple of life lessons at the beginning. I had to end up using our savings but I didn’t mind having to do that because I trusted and believed in the vision.”
But though she did, the banks did not because they often declined all her loan applications.
This story is from the May 2019 edition of Forbes Africa.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the May 2019 edition of Forbes Africa.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Down To Earth
A new era in satellite technology offers space-down insight. Here are some fascinating world views.
Could A Digital Twin Save Your Life?
Human digital twins are quickly moving beyond manufacturing and into the medical world advancing cancer care, soeeding up drug development, personalizing clinical trials, and much more.
The All-Rounder In Ecotourism
An exclusive interview with renowned Kenya-born landscape architect and pioneer of sustainable tourism Hitesh Mehta. His other fascinating career? Representing East Africa and Kenya in first-class cricket and playing in three ICC World Cup tournaments in the late 1970s and 1980s.
Wheeler-Deeler
Alex Bouaziz’s HR company became the fastest-growing software startup in Silicon Valley history by promising to take the pain out of overseas hiring. But in its rush to a $12 billion valuation, regulators worry it may have been cutting the very compliance corners it’s supposedly maintaining.
Culture Couture
Niger designer Alia Baré, also the daughter of a former president, is working to weave together a positive narrative of her country through fashion.
'We Can Build A Real Unicorn Out Of Africa, Creating Impact'
Manish Sardana, the Nairobi-based co-founder of edtech startup Craydel, wants to democratize access to higher education in Africa and eradicate the study-abroad agent market.
A Record Year For Elections, 2024 Will Determine Global Geopolitics
We are all hopeful that 2024 will definitely bring better sense to people, particularly to those in power to make sincere amends to the lapses of the past.
For The Record
A Brazilian producer and a Kenyan singer came together to create a song last year that sOared ujp music charts globally, and in collaborating With a an India-born director for the video, it is NOW a milestone for African sound.
The Best Game
SA20 Commissioner and former South African cricketer Graeme Smith on the ambition to create the biggest league outside of India, and why putting on a show off the pitch is as important to attract a new audience.
Cream Of The Crop
Food is the future and these proactive startups are focused on shifting agricultural practices to prepare for what is to come.