Phumlani Dyantyi is a young South African entrepreneur. Due to COVID and other personal reasons, he recently moved back to Mooiplaas Villages in (Nyara Village), his home community in the Eastern Cape (EC), where he saw the opportunity to set up a taxi company. Now, while Phumlani has already saved a substantial amount towards this cause, he urgently needs funding to help him with his new venture. He tried to get the funding via local government channels but wasn't successful (for reasons outside of his control). This is his story:
"Okay what happened I saw an opportunity in the transport industry in Eastern Cape, which is where I originally come from. The opportunity I saw every time I went home to visit from Cape Town was that I would always struggle to find transport to town to do things like groceries or banking and other activities, then immediately I knew I wasn't the only one. Then I decided to save money to buy a Taxi while I was in Cape Town.
So the Van that I've bought had a ( 4Y Engine ) petrol Engine. But the challenge is that the Engine is not powerful enough for roads here in Eastern Cape. The roads are mostly uphill roads transporting passengers with monthly groceries for a lengthy distance. The taxi operated between Mooiplaas and East London (Town) also Kei Mouth to Town and Komga to Town. Then the vehicle becomes very slow, people panic and won't take or board your Taxi again, and the weight puts a strain on the Engine. So the funds I'll use to buy a more powerful Engine ( vvti Turbo Diesel Engine) so in other words I want to upgrade the vehicle so it will be capable to do the work effectively with less operational costs compared to the current Engine".
Phumlani has also done his due dilligence - he is confident of the financial viability and sustainability of this project. For the number crunchers out there:
Phumlani does 1 trip a day, 6 times a week from Mooi Plaas to East London (1 way = 50km). The Quantam takes 15 people and each passenger is charged R31 (on average) for 1 way. This equates to R465 for 1 way and R930 for the full trip. (The taxi rank system means that taxis always travel at full capacity). The old engine he currently has a very low fuel efficiency and petrol currently costs Phumlani R500 for the return trip, whilst other taxis are spending R300 on a return trip. It also doesn't have the torque to travel up the steep rural roads, passengers are often complaining about it feeling unsafe. So Phumlani's average revenues:
- Daily: R930
- Weekly (6 x R930): R5,580
- Monthly(24 x R930): R22,320
FROM A SOCIAL PERSPECTIVE:
We (Julia Hampton, Tim Treagus, Emilie-Rose Oldnall, who are championing this fundraising campaign on behalf of our friend) first met Phumlani in his shop in Philippi Village where he was passionately selling traditional South African fabrics for funerals and fashion. Before that, he was a casino table inspector for 9 years, where he first began to earn and save scrupulously. When his frabric business was showing signs of ailing, he began his consultations with Chalwyn Vorster, a Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) and Enterprise Supply Development (ESD) Expert, and a member of the Phaphama SEDI board, who helped him in his entrepreneurial journey. It is against this background that he has set up his taxi business, which we are confident will be a commercial success. From the moment we met him, we were inspired by his wisdom, passion, innovativeness, humility, and humour. He said (and this quote is saved on the Phaphama SEDI facebook page for October 2018 because we did a small editorial for him at the time): “People need to be called upon to take a stand and be literally involved in the economy".
We hope that you can donate something to help Phumlani in his mission to contribute to the South African economy, and to his community!