In today’s tough economic climate, many workers are turning their side hustles into full-time businesses to supplement their income. One inspiring example is young Pfunzo Muligwe, who transitioned from his job at a leading facilities management company to becoming a full-time entrepreneur.
Pfunzo Muligwe wanted to supplement his income, create jobs, and uplift his community. To do this, he started a business called Silverblue Technologies which offered ICT solutions. While running his Gauteng-based business, he continued to work and study. “I have five qualifications and my studies inspired me to change the vision for my business,” he said.
In 2019 he changed his business to Silverblue Group Services, a business registered with the South African Pest Control Association. The business stopped offering ICT solutions and transitioned into pest control, vegetation management, rental collections as well as cleaning and caretaking services.
Today, Pfunzo is qualified electrical engineer that became an entrepreneur with a business that has a footprint in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, and Limpopo.
Statistics South Africa’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey shows that four provinces recorded the largest increase in the number of people employed. Limpopo recorded that 80,000 people moved from unemployed to employed.
“Small businesses are playing their part in being part of the solution to the country’s unemployment problem. “I’m proud that one of the provinces where Silverblue renders its services was recorded to have the largest employment increases,” he said.
Creating jobs in a country with a high unemployment rate is important to Pfunzo and he has created nine jobs for young people. His business also has an extensive clientele of 1200 customers and has serviced over 80 buildings; these are achievements that Pfunzo said were no easy fete.
The business was self-funded through personal loans and capital injection from his pension fund when he left his permanent job in 2019. One of the biggest challenges his business faced in the early days was they had a vast service offering that needed a lot of capital expenditure. “We also struggled a lot with cash flow issues as we had to manage marketing, consumables, and running costs with late payments also hindering us,” he said.
Those were tough times for the business, but he persevered because he believes hard work pays off. “By persevering, we have seen our revenue double every year for the past three years. We have expansion plans that will allow us to grow our footprint,” he emphasized.
Pfunzo has words of encouragement for emerging full-time entrepreneurs and those with side hustle businesses. “Don’t be afraid to evolve, initially my business offered hygiene services however, we expanded to providing pest control and vegetation management services. This allowed us to sign multiyear contracts,” he concluded.
Pfunzo Muligwe was a participant on the SAB Foundation’s Tholoana Enterprise Programme, an 18-month business accelerator powered by Fetola which supports the lasting success of businesses from across South Africa, particularly those owned by women, youth and people living with disabilities, and those in township and rural areas.
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