“Entrepreneurs need to take advantage of their surroundings after the lock down and the looting that took place in Gauteng, Durban and other parts of the country”
George is a 31 year old entrepreneur from Tembisa who chooses to give back to the community through business coaching, public speaking and job creation.
He has three main businesses “the mother of all is GSG Tactical Solutions Pty Ltd which is a security company, the second one is Malapa cleaning Services and the third one is Ndhlovu scrap services which is a recycling company”, says George.
Ndhlovu rebranded from GTS Protection Group which was established in 2016 to GSG Tactical Solutions in 2018 and since then he has never looked back and his business has grown 60% from when he first started.
“From 1 employee in 2016 to having just over 170 employees in 2022” remarks George. The business has fleet of vehicles and their clientele has further expanded in three different provinces. GSG owes its success to the ability of the business to combine the human element with technology. “We invest on our employees through training and awarding the best performer”, says Ndhlovu.
Many have tried to be self employed and have failed to sustain a lucrative business. George says: “The first step to sustain a successful business is to know what your strengths are and have a valid reason on why you want to start the business”.
People have a tendency of starting a business with the thought that it’s fashionable or because a friend is doing it however that will easily turn into failure. The mentor further explains and says: “it’s important to do your market research, check requirements to penetrate into the industry and lastly check how much capital is required and how you plan on raising it”.
By the age of 12 Ndhlovu was already assigned to assist his mother who sold fruits and vegetables. He is the first born of 5 children and often took responsibility of taking care of his siblings while his parents went out for piece jobs.
At the age of 15 he started working at his uncle’s tuck shop to raise lunchbox money and to buy stylish clothes to match his peers. “I fell in love with the idea of making money when I started working at the tuck shop. I then started to sell second hand text books and calculators at school and sold lollipops to my classmates” George remembers.
One of his biggest highlights was when he organized an illegal school trip and he made huge profit of over R4000 which was a lot back then. Even though he got into trouble with the principals, the trip show cased his business ability.
Job creation is one of his biggest accomplishments as people who once had no means of earning an income now do. “I host seminars for free to empower and educate our township entrepreneurs and assist their businesses to grow and be compliant”.
Ndhlovu also does radio interviews to share his experience and knowledge in business with those who need it. In addition George’s church assists a few tertiary students with accessories that they need towards their studies.
“I took over an existing car wash which was depleting with no permits to operate and after consultation the project is under way”, says George about one of his latest projects.
The project should be complete by end of February 2022 and will employ 8 people. His future plans are to go into property and plans to use the knowledge he acquired from his only employer in property management that he resigned from in2015.
“I’m a Black child that grew up in a township, attended public schools and stayed in a shack and what I have achieved should be a testimony to the youth”.
By Sandra Lesenyeho
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