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Mpho Mogodiri is Celebrating our Indigenous Heritage

Christina Vestey — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 10:44:28 +0000

We really need to reconnect with our roots to nature and listen to the elders around the world. I call them living libraries because they actually know most of the things that we don’t know. They have this knowledge, but they don’t know who to share this knowledge with. It’s because we are not asking them about these things. It’s something that I’m trying to spark with my business. To say, ask your grandmother about this, ask your grandfather about this, ask your elder about this and let there be a bit of information sharing. My grandmother would share her stories around fruits. For example, the wild sour plum. Those are the things she would talk about. I feel that knowledge like hers should be preserved somehow.

People don’t go into the wild as much as they used to. There’s a lot of activities to do now. There’s a TV in every home. There’s PlayStations, there’s Twitter, Facebook and so on. For us, when we wanted to play, we would go foraging and people are no longer interested in foraging. And if people are not interested in something, it loses its value.

I got introduced to foraging by my grandmother. I grew up in the Northwest, in a village called Seolong. We would go foraging with my grandmother and also with friends. It was actually fun to do it. I think it was a great, formative period. It’s a part of who I am. It’s a part of my identity and culture. I believe right now we are losing this knowledge which forms a great part of who we are.

The impact that starting my business had on me is that I really had to connect with my childhood again. Not only that but it’s also taught me that challenges in life are seasonal like the items we would forage. I appreciate nature more. I get to impact other people’s lives because when I go foraging, now, I go with a group of young people. They teach me about these fruits because some of them have been doing this their whole lives. Now they are paid for that knowledge and skill and they get to be paid through me. I get to put food on somebody’s table. It has impacted me that I’m doing good. I’m sharing my gift with other people. I’ve learnt to really listen to the ingredients and just go with the flow. It has shown me a different Mpho.

At Indigenous Delights, we produce luxury food, such as jams and chutneys, made out of indigenous, raw products. We exclusively source our raw material from women and youth in the villages in the Limpopo province. We do this to ensure that we provide a way of earning income for women and youth, and also to ensure that the materials we get are indigenous to that area and are collected sustainably.

I wanted to make something that I grew up loving, indigenous delights, into modern food. There’s a certain stigma that comes with some indigenous fruits that I grew up eating. I ate that a lot when I was young because we had nothing else to eat. So, some of the foods are seen as poverty foods. We’re trying to break through that stigma.

Evolving to me means growth. It means pushing boundaries. Knowing that fear is there, but saying to the fear, ‘I acknowledge you, fear, but I’m not gonna let you paralyze me’. Evolving means chasing your dreams the only way you know how. Evolving is also growth in terms of knowing yourself and making things happen for yourself and for those that are around you. It’s about opening the door for those who come after you.

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Perfectionism in business is so overrated

Phindile Le Bris Sithole-Spong — Thu, 27 Jan 2022 09:33:56 +0000

“Come as you are” is a line from a Kurt Cobain song that always resonates with me. As a self-proclaimed perfectionist and a person who is always waiting for optimal circumstances and conditions to start anything. I have realised that whilst preparation can yield great results, sometimes you just have to start without being 100% prepared. You can start where you are and with whatever you have.

This idea could not be more accurate with regard to business. So many people put off starting a business until they have all the things they think they need in place. Whether it is a business card, website, or even a certain amount of money, yes, some things are simply unavoidable and even necessary to start a business. But other resources can and should wait, and these resources should not hinder you from starting or growing your business.

When I think about some of the top entrepreneurs and business-minded people, most of them started with very little. Mark Zuckerberg started what is now Facebook at University as a sort of side project. And one of my heroines Sara Blakely started her now multimillion-dollar business Spanx, with nothing but a few samples and a t-shirt with the companies name that she hand ironed on.

These “successful” businesses seem so perfect. However, how and where they started was far from perfect. What is important above all else is an idea and why you want to take this side forward and turn it into a business. The rest, as they say, will come. So if you have an idea or a small business, I would suggest you start by looking at what you already have and use that to push you to implement your ideas or expand your small business. Whatever it is and wherever you are in your life, you can start with what you have. For instance, if your idea revolves around selling wigs, weaves, and other hair related products, you can start by selling one hairpiece. If you want to bake, you can start charging those close to you to cater to their events and bake at home with whatever you already have.

Whilst delivering the best services and products is highly important, sometimes it can take years of trial and error to get to where you want to. But if you never start, you will never get the opportunity to refine your business. To fine-tune where needed and see what your business can’t do without. So push your fears aside and start. Or, as Kurt Cobain would says, “come as you are” and do the best with what you have.

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The importance of letting go and finding beauty in the now

Phindile Le Bris Sithole-Spong — Wed, 21 Oct 2020 05:00:37 +0000

It’s easy to feel despondent and sad about the state of the world. But if 2020 has taught us anything it is that we have no real control over some aspects of our lives. Which is why learning to appreciate where you are and what you have achieved is important. At the beginning of the year when I was pregnant, I had so many plans for where and how my life would move this year. Not only for myself but also for my family and for my work. But as the world started to change due to COVID-19, I had to make some adjustments. Some necessary, some unseen and some difficult.

But as the year nears closer to the end and life looks nothing like it did at the beginning. I am starting to see the beauty of it all. How much I have learnt and grown. Sure, most of this was unplanned but looking back at it, it was necessary. Taking the good with the bad has allowed me to have a clearer path for my future. But also appreciate where I am, and what I have learn’t. One of the main lessons being to stay present and stay open to what ever life throws my way. And to be able to change as life expects.

This has been true as a new mom of a now seven month old, an editor of platform I love, and someone living in a country that is not my home. Whilst I will be the first to admit that things have not always been good. I will say that I am glad I went through them and gotten out the other end. From knowing that I cannot always be with my daughter 24 hours a day. But that when I am with her I can give her as much of my attention as possible. To finding new ways to communicate with loved ones back at home in meaningful ways. And finding new ways to ignite my passions and explore my creativity.

Nowadays I take each day as it comes, and try to take comfort in what I do have and things I can control. Things like my mental and physical health and the things I chose to make time for every day. For me this includes making my weekly almond milk, to working out every day (even if its just a walk). And making time for myself each and every single day even with my full schedule. Because I have come to realize that when I am well, those around me are well too. And at the end of the day, the best we can give our loved ones is ourselves. A little battered and bruised, but always ready ad willing to fight another day.

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