Tsholotsho businesswoman innovates “Thumeza Ekhaya” Platform to connect diaspora with families back home

A TSHOLOTSHO businesswoman has innovated a new product in her retail business, Thumeza Ekhaya, to allow those in the diaspora to buy goods for their parents and children back home.

Mrs Nokuthula Ngwenya-Moyo, the founder of One Stop Savers, a retail outlet in Tsholotsho said Thumeza Ekhaya is an initiative, which came into her mind after she realised that elders in Tsholotsho would come and buy things on credit from her shop sometimes waiting for their children to send them money or waiting for Omalaitsha to deliver goods from South Africa, which sometimes take a fortnight or more.

Mrs Moyo owns an outlet in Tsholotsho Centre and another in Jowa.

She told the Business Chronicle that, to reduce risks associated with credits and also in her quest to assist the community she introduced the Thumeza Ekhaya platform where Diasporans can buy goods from her then the parents or children will collect from any of her outlets.

“One top Savers launched a product called Thumeza Ekhaya in order to assist parents, grandparents and families for the people mainly living outside the country.

“What they do is, they pay for their groceries in South Africa, even school uniforms and they will collect them here in Tsholotsho, including all basic commodities,” said Mrs Moyo.

“The product was launched in the sense that, at first, elders would come asking to buy basic commodities on credit and waiting for Omalayitsha which sometimes takes two weeks or a month, which hurt my business as the finances would be tied to credit.”

She said Thumeza Ekhaya came as a relief to both players, which include her customers and her business.

Mrs Moyo said the new product has contributed to the growth of her business because she no longer relies on local sales alone as she also gets sales from outside the country.

“This has changed lives of the communities in Tsholotsho because parents and elders no longer have a burden financially to get access to their basic commodities and the timeframe to wait for Omalayitsha to arrive without food has been eased through Thumeza Ekhaya,” she said.-choncile