Bonny M | June 7, 2024
Director and founder of alcohol beverage brand Ijuba Nobkhobes Suzan Mtsweni-Mahlangu grew up in the dusty streets of KwaNdebele in Gembokspruit however her dreams have always been bigger than the small village. She was in the corporate world for over 15 years making use of her BSC in computer statistics and mathematics, since then Ijuba Nobkhobe has become her sole business Venture.
Ijuba Nobkhobes uniqueness is inspired by the Ndebele cultural attire which tells African stories by African people. Each of our products represent us a rainbow nation, and we hope to give our consumers a luxurious African taste that will make them feel that a brand doesn’t have to be foreign or international to taste and look good.
I always tell people that ijuba Nobkhobe is not just a business, but an answer to my calling because I went through a very difficult time after losing my father and sister in-law 5 months apart from each other. I experienced depression and was isolated during that time, that’s when I had a vision to create this amazing product.
Under the ijuba Nobkhobe brand we have MCC Rose Champagne, Gin and Tonic and Still Water
Share with us some of the challenges you have experienced thus far and how you overcame them?
Our biggest challenge so far has to be trying to put our products in big retailers, we approached lot of them and at some point things where promising, however they quickly went south as soon as they realized that we are 100 percent black owned with no sponsorship since then we have decided to remain independent for now and sell trough our online store www.ijubanobkhobe.co.za and hope that our maker will create a way for us.
The alcohol beverage industry is a competitive one how do you plan to keep your brand relevant?
Firstly we plan on always coming up with a range of products to make sure we remain relevant within the industry because we don’t want alcohol brand conversations to start without mentioning ijuba Nobkhobe. We also want to see ijuba Nobkhobe on the international scale in the near future.
Your readers can order our products via our online store which is www.ijubanobkhobe.co.za or via www.makroonline, we do deliver for free anywhere in South Africa.
Also your readers can get in touch on the following details :
Email : Mandla@ijubaNobkhobe.co.za
Call : 084 576 7822