Sipho and Nombulelo from Embo farmstead

Tell us a little about yourself!

Sipho: I grew up in the Eastern Cape, in a small rural town called Mhtokwane, where my family's roots trace back to the late 1800s. I studied at the University of Fort Hare, earning a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Sciences with a major in Animal Science, followed by a Master's degree focusing on animal nutrition. Currently, I work for a Dutch multinational company as an account manager - the sales and marketing experience helps immensely with the farm.

Bianca (Nombulelo): I grew up half in Alberton in Jo’burg and half in Cape Town. It's funny because when I grew up, I moved out as soon as I turned 21 and finished my studies and said I would never come back to Alberton - and now I'm literally in exactly the same town next to Alberton. It's so funny how your perspective changes quite a lot when you grow up.

How did you start doing what you are doing now? 

Sipho: Growing up in the Eastern Cape, subsistence farming was a part of life for most people. Planting crops and keeping chickens, pigs and cattle was in our DNA. So it was something that was always a part of me.

I met my wife at The Hague in The Netherlands at a conference called One Young World. When we came back, we co-founded an NPO called Kuthaza Foundation. Our NPO, and then NPC, focused on improving food security, reducing malnutrition through community gardens, waste management using EcoBricks, and cleanups. We wanted to create an eco-village as an inspirational place.

Facing challenges with funding the NPO, we pivoted to what we loved - planting and keeping animals - but as a business, which is how Embo Farmstead was born. We started on borrowed land but soon realised we needed our own place to invest in and reduce risks. So we found our current farm in Meyerton which is where Amber Farmstead is based now. 

Bianca: I actually worked for corporate up until a few years ago. When we started the NPO, we were about two years into managing it when some personal things happened on my side. I decided to leave corporate and initially tried to do the NPO part-time, but that didn't work out. So I went full-time into it. We were both very passionate about the farming side and loved getting fresh produce out to people.

One of the big things we're serious about is nutrition - we were seeing the difference in kids between one and five getting healthy vegetables weekly. That inspired us to take the farming side more seriously as a business. We've had Embo Farmstead for two years now, and this is our second growing season.

What are you most proud of in this process? 

Sipho: I'm most proud of where we've come and what we're doing as a family. Whatever we're doing, we're doing together and for our family. 

I'm proud that we can work together to build the legacy we want for our kids. We may not see the full profits of Embo Farmstead in our lifetime, but the objective is to build it up for our kids to take over one day. It's a long-term game, but I'm proud of what we've achieved as a family in a short space of time.

Bianca: I think what I'm most proud of is how far we've come in a short distance of time with the resources we had. We are 100% self-made - we spent our own money, didn't take out loans, didn't get grants or support from the Department of Agriculture or outside investments. It's basically just been me and Sipho starting this whole company ourselves. When I look at the farm now - there was just a field when we moved in, no irrigation, nothing- and see what it's becoming in such a short span, that's something I really am proud of.

What is the most helpful piece of advice you received when you were just starting out? 

Sipho: The most helpful advice has been to focus. In a world where you constantly get stimulated and inspired, like on Instagram, you can end up trying to do too many things at once. But if you divide your time across too many projects, your results get diluted.

So my wife and I always talk about focusing on what we have, because trying to do too much impacts the capital, labor and mindshare you can dedicate. Less is more - the fewer things you do, the more focus and better outcomes you'll have. 

Other things can still be part of the vision, but focusing on them all at the same time will likely yield poorer results. So focus is key and probably the best advice my wife and I give ourselves.

Bianca: "The most helpful advice was to focus on one thing, try and do it as perfect as you can, and then start branching out. When we started, we wanted to do vegetables, then our own seedlings, then worms, then chickens and pigs. As Sipo always says, these small micro-enterprises that you have as part of your business - someone does pigs for a living, that's their only project. Someone does chickens for a living, and it takes all of their time. Your time and projects will always feel the division.

What advice would you like to give to others who are younger/earlier on their journey? 

Sipho: My key piece of advice would be: Don't get too stuck on different dogmas. Look at your own context and see what is important and what works for you, your family, community and the world at large. But don't let dogmas control you.

For example, you may love the idea of no-till and using lots of compost like Charles Dowding promotes. But then you realise how expensive compost is at scale. So then you need to pragmatically look at what you can do in your environment with the finances, resources and tools you have access to. 

Find a hybrid model that works for you. Use compost but maybe some organic fertilizer too as you build your soil. Be inspired by what you see online but be open-minded about what works in your country and context. 

Otherwise, you can lose a lot of money by not being pragmatic enough and getting too stuck on certain ideals. When starting off it's a challenge, so we take a balanced approach – using organic practices and inputs as much as possible while still being practical. So take a clear position but don't get trapped by dogma.

Bianca: Try to have your path planned out as much as you can before you start your journey. Having an executive summary or business plan is strenuous, I know, and a lot of people hate it, but it keeps you on your path. If your business plan says you start with vegetables, get everything up and running, get a certain amount of customers, then move to the next enterprise - this is the funding you need, this is your wish list - it guides you. It's difficult when you're busy with your business to start working on your business plan, so it's better to have it beforehand and then just edit as you go.

Where do you see growing going in South Africa? 

Sipho: What's interesting is that a lot of the "trendy" things in affluent areas like reusing, recycling, and regenerative farming are actually embedded in how many people in poorer rural areas farm and live, using practices like manure, mulching, saving seeds etc. 

I think at a small scale, especially in suburbs, people are starting to look at more organic regenerative practices vs high-input chemical farming. Setting up systems to work with nature. Although in rural areas, many are still reliant on synthetic fertilizers due to cost and scale.

For bigger commercial farmers, most are still doing conventional agriculture, driven by synthetic inputs and tillage, because that's how their fathers did it for generations. Changing that will take a big mindset and investment shift, although some are adopting no-till practices.

But I see many people, especially at the small scale, wanting to farm organically now, without pesticides. The interest in backyard chickens, producing eggs, milking goats etc. is growing. It's a bit romanticized currently, but hopefully it becomes an embedded culture again, not just for social media, but because it's what communities do.

Bianca: I would say the South African market is hopefully opening up the mindset of having fresh vegetables from your community. Stop going to the shops - I'm hoping more families will start investing in their local businesses, getting vegetables, bread, cheese, milk, everything from local growers in their area. If we can get that progression and mindfulness of people and consumerism bridging closer to their communities, then I can grow my enterprise, my farm, and my team. I can support more people in the community because if I can grow, I can have three or four more people employed on the farm.