However, this did not deter 19-year-old Amantle Mthunzi from using her creativity to venture into this business despite tough competition.
Trading under the name Amantle's Icy Treats, the company specialises in producing mouthwatering, premium icy treats using only freshest ingredients and creatively flavoured frostings. Mthunzi, who is a certified baker, recently narrated her journey to BusinessMonitor, saying she wanted to introduce a unique product in the market by creating distinctive mouthwatering ice creams. She started by experimenting with different decorations and flavours until everything fell into place. According to Mthunzi, at first she shared the delicacy with family members until one day when she decided to turn her passion into business.
"The feedback was amazing as the demand for my products was growing. This gave me motivation to start charging people in order to generate cash," she revealed. The creative entrepreneur said the hot temperatures helped blossom her business as a number of people could not get enough of her icy treats. She stated that the customers used the frozen lip-smacking ice creams to quench their thirst or cool themselves from the heat. She gets most of her products from local wholesale and retail outlets. Speaking on her entrepreneurship journey Mthunzi said she was certified as a baker on Valentine’s Day last year. She stated that her baking business kept her afloat for the entire year, but after experiencing numerous setbacks in her baking endeavours, she eventually became passionate about ice cream.
"Last year, I had to stop baking because of school, but when I started making Icy Treats, I knew that nothing could stop me because of the love I put into it. One of the reasons my Icy Treats business is still going strong is that, despite the times when I would have no clients, I never once considered giving up," she remarked.
The youthful entrepreneur decided that she will never subject herself to pressure since she is aware that tomorrow will come even if she succeeds in her business today. Through her business, she stated that she learnt to be patient and have faith in the Lord as he always provides. Mthunzi revealed that her business was funded by her mother as she had more faith in her enthusiasm, creativity and ability to deliver . Speaking about her accomplishment, the gifted businesswoman said she placed second in the Selebi-Phikwe local business competitions.
"I learnt that my success from the two gave me the opportunity to grow my business when I went to the PUSHABW Selebi-Phikwe Expo. I got the chance to meet and exchange ideas with other business owners. “The opportunity to present my goods to other powerful individuals demonstrated my commitment to expanding my company and hitting new milestones,” she said. She is very excited of what the future holds for her ice cream business and also determined to experiment with new decoration, flavours and open for new ideas for her business to reach great heights. She encouraged all the young entrepreneurs to practice being patient for their businesses to continue flowing because they don’t know what tomorrow holds so quitting is not a option.
