Loyiso Mfuku – Khayelitsha Travel And Tours
Through hard work and determination, Loyiso grew his business and gained recognition both locally and internationally. However, the business has been badly affected by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. With work ceasing in March, they have been unable to generate any sort of income since the lockdown was announced. This has been a difficult time for him and his employees, but he remains hopeful and looks forward to resuming work soon.
Loyiso Mfuku is the founder and owner of Khayelitsha Travel and Tours, a tourism agency that creates tailored holiday packages for visitors to South Africa and Africa, including MSC cruise line passengers. Their packages include activities such as township tours, cultural tours, safaris and balloon trips, and they aim to provide international visitors with an authentic local experience. Prior to founding his business, Loyiso studied tourism management at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology but, due to financial challenges, he was unable to complete his studies.
However, this did not stop him from pursuing his dream of being in the tourism industry. He got a job at a tourism company and worked there as a tour consultant. He used this opportunity to the best of his ability, learning as much as possible and leveraging the knowledge and resources available to develop a concept and strategy for his own travel company. As a result, in 2006, Khayelitsha Travel and Tours was born.
It is no surprise that Loyiso ended up in the tourism industry, as he has always been fascinated by different people and their cultures. Seeing people from different backgrounds and learning about them and their places of origin motivated him to venture into the industry. He grew up in Khayelitsha and, as a child, he noticed a lack of tourism companies established there, despite regular township tours of the area. He took it upon himself to change that. He also wanted the people in townships to learn more about the industry and to get them excited about travelling and seeing other places. Furthermore, he wanted to dispel the misconception that many of his neighbours had about travel being out of their reach, or an activity reserved for people in other countries.
“I wanted to find a way to make it easier and exciting for our people to travel”, says Loyiso.
Despite his own business struggles, Loyiso also realised how much people in Khayelitsha were struggling to feed themselves and provide for their families as a result of the pandemic. When he was approached by Ke Nako, a Luxembourg-based NGO that supports underprivileged communities in South Africa, with the idea of forming a partnership, he immediately agreed. Between April and June 2020, the partners raised more than R200 000, which they distributed as food vouchers to more than 248 needy families. In order to make this initiative sustainable, they also launched an urban farming garden in Khayelitsha. This aims to provide members of the community with the means to support themselves and their families. Ten members of the community have been identified and are currently undergoing a five-week training programme to become urban farmers.
Khayelitsha Travel and Tours is a participant of the SAB Foundation Tholoana Enterprise Programme. “Since joining the programme, I was able to overcome some of the greatest anxieties I had about interpreting and communicating business finances clearly. Our day-to-day tasks, planning and operations improved remarkably,” says Loyiso.
Through the programme, Loyiso was able to develop a clear organogram to illustrate roles and responsibilities to his small team. He has also been able to promote a culture of professionalism within the organisation. Before the SAB Foundation Tholoana Enterprise Programme, Khayelitsha Travel and Tours had an annual income of R240 000. However, by 2019, following their involvement with the programme, they had grown their turnover to R420 000.
“Knowing and understanding my income statement, balance sheet and cash flow has motivated me to push for more sales so that my income can remain positive. Through these efforts I managed to sign up new clients in order to grow the business. All of this, I could not have done without the Tholoana Enterprise Programme workshops I attended,” says Loyiso.
Loyiso says that he is grateful to the SAB Foundation for accepting him into this programme as it has tremendously assisted him in growing his business. He also feels that the programme has helped him grow as an entrepreneur and he is excited about what the future holds for him.
“My confidence level has risen ever since I joined the programme. I have been able to find my strengths and weaknesses and I can now separate business activities from my personal activities. This programme has also enabled me to meet strangers who have now become good friends that I can count on for support and advice,” concludes Loyiso.