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Charity Ruzvidzo Business Reporter
“LIFE is not about taking shortcuts but one should work hard and persevere to achieve his or her goals”. These are the words of Mnothisi Nsingo, the managing director of a flourishing Bulawayo-based bakery, Double Fresh.

Nsingo, 41, did his primary education at Maribeha in 1978 and his secondary at Nganunu in 1985. Both schools are in Matobo District of Matabeleland South province.

He later went to Foundation College in 1990 where he did business studies for two years.

Soon after college, he joined National Furniture Industries in Bulawayo where he worked for a few years and raised capital to open his own furniture company in 2001 called Pure Furnitures, which operated for about 10 years.

Following the economic hardships in 2008/9 period, demand for furniture decreased and the company collapsed.

Nsingo said this did not deter him.

He decided to venture into the fuel business. Using funds from his furniture company, he opened a service station called Duze in 2009.

And upon noticing an increased demand for bread, Nsingo decided to establish a bakery.

He said to prepare himself for the new business, he enrolled at the Bulawayo Polytechnic for bakery studies.

“In 2008 the situation in the country was terrible.People would struggle to get food especially bread. I observed that bread was being imported from South Africa and Botswana thus I decided to establish my own bakery to tap into the huge demand for bread,” he said.

In 2012, Nsingo said he finally opened his own bakery Double Fresh which is located in the Belmont Industrial area.

The bakery presently employs 34 workers.

“The journey for me wasn’t easy and it’s not over yet. We’ve 34 employees and most of them are Bulawayo Polytechnic graduates,” he said.

Nsingo said the bakery has a capacity of producing 7,000 loaves a day.

“We produce 7,000 loaves per day which we deliver to OK, Choppies, Greens, Fazak and Spar Supermarkets. We’re targeting to increase our production ahead of the festive season. We’ve a new baking machinery coming in December which has a capacity to produce 22,000 loaves per day.

“For the past three years, investors have been approaching me offering to inject capital to expand the business but I have not engaged any of them as yet. For me, it’s not about capacity but quality. I wanted to ensure that I have the best quality before I increase my production. Now I am confident from the feedback I get from my customers that we’ve the best quality,” he said.

Nsingo bemoaned the erratic power cuts, saying a lot of money was being lost.

“In the bakery industry electricity is a requisite. We’ve lost thousands of dollars due to erratic power supplies. The government should do something to address power supply constraints which are affecting productivity.

“Another major challenge we face especially as an upcoming business is that well-established local companies do not support indigenous small businesses. They should support us by buying our products,” he said.

Nsingo said the bread he produces competes well with products of established bakeries.

“My bakery has been competing very well with big bakeries,” said Nsingo.

He said his main objective was to expand his business beyond Bulawayo.

“So far we’re delivering our bread around Bulawayo and Kezi once a week. My goal, if business continues to thrive, is to deliver bread to the Midlands, Masvingo, Matabeleland South, Victoria Falls and Plumtree in the next three years,” he said.

Nsingo urged upcoming businesspeople to work hard to achieve their goals.

“It’s not easy, nothing is easy and nothing has ever been easy. The only way to success is working extra hard and sometimes listening to critics because not all criticism destroys you. Constructive criticism makes you a better person,” he said.