In the heart of Witbank, Mpumalanga, there’s a poultry farm with a difference. It’s an off-grid enterprise powered by one woman’s desire to change her life and the lives of others.
That woman is Nokuthula Makhubedu, the founder of NM Farm Fresh. Before farming, Nokuthula spent 18 years working in the mining industry as an environmental scientist. She was the one behind projects meant to help communities, like farming enterprises. But many of those projects failed. “I couldn’t understand why,” she says.
What began as a curious experiment with 50 chickens soon became something much bigger. Nokuthula didn’t come from a farming background. She grew up in busy Alexandra township, where there was never enough space. So, when she saw a farm for sale in Witbank, she bought it; there was no long planning, just a bold leap of faith.
Her early days were filled with lessons. “I thought selling 50 trays of eggs a month would be enough to pay staff,” she laughs. “But I quickly learned farming isn’t an overnight money-maker. It’s a long-term commitment.”
She also had to deal with major challenges like load shedding, COVID-19, avian flu, and even scams while trying to buy chicks.
But Nokuthula is no quitter.
She adapted, fast. At first, she sold live chickens to hawkers. But she felt uncomfortable being at the mercy of their pricing and opinions. “They’d say the chicken was too small even when the scale said otherwise,” she explains.
So, she shifted her model. Instead of selling live chickens, she started agro-processing. This change gave her better control and stability.
NM Farm Fresh is proudly green. Her operation is fully off-grid – solar power, borehole water, and greywater recycling systems help keep it sustainable. She employs 34 women because, as she says, “Women have the gentleness chickens need. They treat them like babies. Happy chickens grow better.”
But Nokuthula’s work doesn’t end with just her team. She gives local women chicken parts she can’t sell, so they can run small businesses and earn money. Others make toys and pillows using feathers from the farm. She’s even looking into turning chicken blood into electricity to heat the coops. For her, it’s all about creating opportunity and dignity.
The most rewarding part? Watching her business go from a tiny idea to a full chicken processing plant that runs 800 chickens per week. “Five years ago, I wasn’t even sure I had a real business. Now, the business can fund itself. That’s huge,” she says proudly.
It hasn’t been easy. One of the hardest things she’s had to do was let go of original team members who no longer fit the growing needs of the business. “It was emotional. These were people who played with my kids on weekends,” she says. “But leadership means making tough choices.”
Nokuthula is also a wife and mother of four. Balancing family and farming hasn’t always been smooth. But she learned to set boundaries, include her family in the business, and – most importantly – know what matters most in the moment. “If my child is sick, that comes first. If I have a big audit, I’ll handle that too. But I’ve learned to be present as a human being.”
In the next 5 to 10 years, NM Farm Fresh hopes to be a household name. With ideas like marinated, crumbed, and even canned chicken products, Nokuthula’s dream is to see her chicken brand on store shelves across South Africa.
Her advice to others who want to start a business: “Just start. Your garage, your kitchen table -that can be your office. Don’t wait for perfect. Build the business, and it will grow.”
And what keeps her going? “It’s not just about chickens. It’s about building a legacy, giving people back their dignity, and planting a seed that will continue to grow even when I am no longer here.”
*NM Farm Fresh is a participant business on the SAB Foundation’s Tholoana Enterprise Programme.
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About the Author
Terrena Rathanlall is the SME Media Portfolio Manager at Fetola.
