Tenza revives her father-inlaw’s entrepreneurial spirit

Once fallow farm now a thriving business

When a state-leased family farm lay fallow after its farmer died, the entrepreneurial spirit of his daughter-in-law kickedin, and she worked hard to revive it.

Today, the initiative is thriving, even earning accolades from SA’s head of state.

The director of Kevinot Farming, Nonopa Tenza, was among a group of winners of the inaugural Presidential small, micro and medium enterprises (SMMEs) and cooperative awards that recently engaged President Cyril Ramaphosa at the Union Buildings. Tenza won the rural-based SMMEs award.

The award included a R100,000 cash prize.

Tenza, a chartered accountant by profession, pursued farming after she decided to revive a desolate state agricultural plot in Matatiele, Eastern Cape, that had been leased to her late father-in-law.

The establishment consists of about 100 hectares of arable land. It also runs a beef production breeding herd of F1 Angus cows, pedigree Angus Bulls, mixed Dohne Merino and Dormer sheep and grows yellow maize, sugar beans lucerne and teff grasses.

Tenza said the farm had been used by her father-in-law until his passing nine years ago. For three years after his passing the farm was unused.

In 2017, she rolled up her sleeves to take on the mammoth task. “I am passionate about agriculture. This was an opportunity for me to utilise this farm that was just sitting, doing nothing,” she recalled.

Tenza traded her full-time corporate job in investment banking in Johannesburg for pitchforks in Matatiele.

But the journey was not paved in gold. With the lease still not transferred to her name, getting the venture off the ground meant access to commercial funding was close to impossible. She had to utilise her personal savings.

Kevinot occasionally receives farming implements from the Eastern Cape department of agriculture and rural development. However, the business faced an existential threat when it suffered losses valued at R600,000 following the 2022 floods that devastated parts of Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

Intervention from the Small Enterprise Development Agency’s (Seda) Flood Relief Fund gave the initiative a much-needed shot in the arm.

“When the floods came, the sugar beans were still low and got washed away. The farming implements helped me a lot for the upcoming season.”

Seda supplied Tenza with seeds, fertiliser and everything that she needed for that season. –