Mzwandile Thabethe – Co-owner of Ubutu Brands, a holding company that owns a diversified portfolio of restaurants that are shaping the inner city and greater Johannesburg area.
Born and bred in Pimville Soweto, Mzwandile Thabethe is co-owner of some of Johannesburg’s most hip and happening hotspots e’Jozi including Sophiatown Bar Lounge in Newtown and Midrand, Ko’Spotong in Ghandi Square, Pata Pata on Main Street (Johannesburg CBD) and Shikisha in Newtown. After matriculating, Mzwandile enrolled for studies at Wits University but later dropped out to pursue time in the UK working odd jobs and learning the food business. Having spent four years abroad, on his return home he decided to venture into business starting up what is now the meridian of his list of restaurants, Sophiatown.
As with every young up-and-coming businessman, getting a business off the ground was not easy for Mzwandile and his younger brother Ziggy Thabethe. But through hard work, perseverance, calculated research and a strong business acumen, the dream was soon realised. “The success of his different establishments is due to the fact that each of the venues have a different clientele and audience. What their various restaurants tend to accomplish is a sense of community and re-modification of our identities as urban dwellers in a new South Africa. For instance; Ko’Spotong is much more youthful and vibrant in its aesthetic, so it appeals to the Hipsters, Pantsulas and abo M’rapper. Pata Pata is more for the maturer hippies, trendsetters and Sophiatown attracts a more elderly audience. Any successful businessman will tell you that in order for any type of business to succeed, you have to know your audience”, explains Mzwandile. Even though the bulk of the businesses are based in the Johannesburg CBD, the young tycoon would strongly consider opening up another hotspot in Soweto – his home and a place he is immensely proud of where most of his family and close friends are situated. But for now, his main focus is improving his current businesses and ensuring that they continue to thrive.
Mzwandile draws his inspiration from many different people, many of whom have helped him become the man he is today including his father, a former street hawker with exceptional entrepreneurial skills, and who through some of the harshest times in the 1970’s and 1980’s was able to feed, clothe and educate his children; Abo Mam’ Shangaan (local street vendors), women and mothers with no educational backgrounds but are able to feed and educate their families by braaing milies and selling fresh produce in the streets.
“Growing up ekasi, one constantly took notice of this fledgling entrepreneurial spirit. It was encouraging. The late Toby of Toby’s Ford was a great example of black business. Richard Maponya thrived during the peak of apartheid, and stood out as a giant in Soweto. Another person Mzwandile looks up to with the utmost respect is world-famous rapper, Jay-Z, one of the biggest stars of our time and a self-made billionaire who grew up with a single mother in the slums of Brooklyn (New York), who, despite the drug and crime infested environment he lived in managed to fight the odds and not allow his misfortunes determine the man he has become today.
AUTHOR: Kasibiz Mahala Team
