Mogau Seshoene story is one that continues to inspire youths across Africa. Her start-up story is that of a passion-driven entrepreneur who pivoted from a finance career to teaching women in South Africa how to cook traditional cuisine- giving birth to the Lazy Mokoti food empire.
Mogau Seshoene was born in Turfloop Mankweng township in Limpopo, South Africa. She is the founder of – The Lazy Makoti and hosts a Tv cooking show that showcases African recipes on a national Tv station and promotes South African culture through education about traditional local South African cuisine.
Mogau got the inspiration to launch her company when a friend of hers needed cooking lessons on South African cuisine, and shockingly in her country South Africa, she couldn’t find anywhere that offered lessons on local cuisine – only French, Italian, and others. The Lazy Makoti was established after she gave cooking lessons to her friend who was struggling to learn to produce South African dishes. The friend later recommended her services to a few other people. She registered the business and turned the idea into her livelihood. She realized there was a gap in the market. In 2014, Mogau left her corporate finance job to start The Lazy Makoti, offering cooking lessons to makotis (meaning ‘young brides’).
The Lazy Makoti has since evolved into a food solutions company that provides cooking lessons, recipe development and bespoke catering. It also sells a range of contemporary handcrafted kitchen accessories like aprons and chopping boards. In 2005, through The Hook-up Dinner, an entrepreneurial support network, Mogau received R150,000 (about US$12,700) in capital after winning their Lean Jump start-up competition. The money was used to set up her business fully and pay for culinary school.
Social media played a pivotal role in the growth of The Lazy Makoti. Mogau explains; “Plenty of our clients have come through social media, be it through interacting with our pages or ‘word of mouth’ through other people’s pages on social media,” “We went from a Facebook page that shares recipes to providing comprehensive cooking classes and a cookbook.”
Mogau remains committed to promoting South African culture and heritage through education about its traditional local cuisine. She hopes to build a food empire and do everything from offering cooking lessons, to publishing a cookbook and producing a TV show.
Mogau Seshoene message to young entrepreneurs; “Have a five-minute elevator pitch, which is a short summary overview of who you are, what you do and how and what ‘problem’ you are providing the solution to. This will help you be sure that you actually know your story, the how and why of your business and will also give confidence to whoever you are speaking to.”
