- Sobae Frozen uses overripe and unwanted fruit and vegetables from vendors in Johannesburg's inner city to make tasty sorbets.
- The local sorbet company was founded by Mbongeni Masondo and Thula Ndema in 2017.
- The couple had long wanted to start their own business, and did so while solving illegal dumping and food wastage issues at the same time.
Sobae Frozen a Johannesburg-based sorbet company's recipe for success started with a handful of key ingredients: a blender, cooler box, unwanted fruit and vegetables and heaps of entrepreneurial spirit.
Co-founders Mbongeni Masondo and Thula Ndema created the company in 2017. Back then, the couple worked regular jobs. However, in their free time they would explore Johannesburg by bicycle.
During one of these excursions through the city, they noticed fruit and vegetable vendors dumping their overripe produce - and an idea was born.
READ | Here's what the V&A Waterfront is doing to restore its marina
Masondo and Ndema had long been fed up with the rat race of corporate life and were looking for an out.
"We were working for someone else at the time … we had had enough of the work industry and how employees were treated in a workplace, and we wanted to start something of our own," Ndema told News24.
The couple realised they could use the overripe fruit and vegetables to make sorbet - finding their out while solving illegal dumping and food waste issues.
Humble beginnings
They began selling their frozen desserts from a mobile cooler box at the Neighbourgoods Market in Braamfontein and on the streets of Maboneng and Soweto.
"We started selling out of a cooler box to save money for a fridge and freezer because at that time it was a bit expensive," Ndema said.
"We couldn't afford to pay to be at the actual market, so we sold on the street. Security guards were constantly chasing us away," she added. At the end of 2019, they moved into their Victoria Yards store in Lorentzville, Johannesburg.
They have really pushed the flavour envelope in recent years, experimenting by adding vegetables, herbs and spices to their sorbets.
Customers can feast on basil and grape, apple and pomegranate or butternut and banana flavours for example.
The sorbet is made from water, overripe seasonal fruit and vegetables, and the couple has over the years fostered relationships with various vendors in the heart of Johannesburg's inner city - who provide them with produce at a much lower price.
Money matters
The couple, however, had some help realising their dreams.
Sobae Frozen's first formal funding opportunity happened by pure luck when someone from the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) approached them while selling sorbet on the streets of Soweto.
"A person from the NYDA approached us and told us about the funding they could assist us with and what we would need to do," Ndema said.
The Global Philanthropy Alliance (GPA), an American company that helps fund young social entrepreneurs in Africa, also assisted the young entrepreneurs.
"We were a self-funded company in the beginning, and it was a bit difficult."
The GPA, however, assisted the couple in securing a bigger display freezer so they could expand on their flavours.
It also assisted the sorbet business with Covid-19 relief funding, which helped them stay afloat during the pandemic. And they paid it forward.
Giving back
Ndema said the lockdown was tough on Sobae financially. They had to make personal adjustments, such as moving into a smaller shop to cut back on spending.
But despite their own challenges, Masondo and Ndema got involved in Covid-19 relief activities in their community.
"Since our freezers were not in use at the time, we helped Makers Valley store some frozen goods for the established soup kitchen. That is how we contributed," Ndema said.
Seeing the business grow and their dreams come to fruition has been a highlight for her.
"When we started planning it, it was in our heads. We didn't know it was something that people needed," she said.
In the future, the pair looks forward to opening more Sobae branches in other cities across the country and adding more value to their community in Victoria Yards.
