From civil engineers to chilli entrepreneurs

Mmule Matlala and her husband, Blessing, two 37-year-old civil engineers, left steady and well-paid Transnet jobs to start a food-production and agro-processing company. Susan Marais reports on their growth.

- Susan Marais

If you are passionate about your business, you will thrive. Being in business must involve more than growing your bank account.

This is the belief of Mmule Matlala, CEO and founder of ZDF Matlala Holdings, a diversified food-production company.

"I've always enjoyed cooking food, and after school I wanted to go to a culinary school," recalls Matlala.

However, she opted to put her dreams aside for a "sensible" B. Tech degree in civil engineering, which she obtained from the Tshwane University of Technology. This is also where she met her now husband, Blessing.

After graduating in 2008, the couple obtained positions within Transnet, and seemed set for long careers in engineering. Within a few years, however, frustration had set in. Matlala found that her real passion still lay with food and cooking, and their hectic lifestyle was troubling her. At the time, she was working in Pretoria and her husband in Kempton Park.

"We almost always saw each other in passing. When I was coming home from my shift, Blessing was usually leaving for his." In 2016, by which stage their eldest child was two years old, she decided to prioritise her family's emotional health and happiness over their generous incomes. "I was done pleasing others, so I decided to resign and pursue my passion for cooking," she recalls.

At the time, she was already cooking on Saturdays and catering at functions. "This helped, as I had a thriving business before I resigned.

I finally registered the business in 2017." Three months after Matlala resigned, Blessing also left his job to join ZDF on a part-time basis as its operations manager. Today, his time is divided between ZDF and other business interests.