Indomitable Spirit

　　On a chilly spring morning in Johannesburg,Tshidi Tau packs bottles of homemade sauces andpickled vegetables to sell at a farmers’ market on theoutskirts of the city.

　　The well-known South African entrepreneur has experiencedboth the highs and lows of life and business.

　　Six years ago she was the owner of the first Chineserestaurant in Soweto, Johannesburg’s largest urbanarea, inhabited predominantly by black South Africans.Tau saw her fortunes change when a lucrative businessdeal went sour. Down, but not out, her indomitable spiritled her to start up a small operation selling sauce andpickles, which had been popular items in her Chinesefood business.

　　Despite the challenges, Tau said she hasn’t abandonedher hope of resuscitating her Chinese restaurant,and currently caters for events and private functions.

　　Chinese odyssey

　　Like many South Africans, Tau didn’t know muchabout China and Chinese food until she experiencedit firsthand in 2004. That year she made the decisionto teach English in Liuzhou City, south China’s GuangxiZhuang Autonomous Region, after being drawn by hercuriosity about China’s people and culture.

　　For the first few weeks, life in China proved to be verydifficult for Tau.

　　She struggled to get used to the taste of green teaand sweet bread, and ate most of her meals at McDonald’sand KFC. Later her Chinese friends taught her howto cook local dishes at home.

　　“They took me to the street markets and showed meplaces where I could buy vegetables,” Tau said. “Theyshowed me how to cook rice and how to prepare disheson a gas stove.”

　　On weekends, she would often be invited to theirhomes, enjoying and learning more about Chinesecuisine until she became familiar with many of the localingredients and cooking methods.

　　“The time I spent in China was wonderful,” Tau said. “Iwas amazed by the type of food they ate. Chinese foodis light on the stomach, highly nutritious, delicious andnon-fattening.”

　　Soweto meets China

　　When Tau returned from China at the end of 2004, shehad the idea to open a Chinese restaurant in Soweto,but she didn’t have the start-up funds for the venture.

　　During that time, she continued teaching and beganpreparing Chinese food at home after work. She wassoon advertising her food via flyers and selling Chinesefood to businesses in the area. Things took off in a bigway after interviews in a local newspaper and TV stationspread the word about her unique choice of cuisine andorders for her Chinese dishes came pouring in.

　　In 2007, Tau founded the Tshiditsoe Food and Eatery,a Chinese restaurant specializing in chaofan (friedrice) and chaomian (fried noodles). She sourced therequired vegetables and ingredients from Cyrildene, Johannesburg’sChinatown, and based her business on theconcept of offering customers “delicious, healthy andaffordable” food. Tau said each dish was enough to servetwo people and cost only $2.50. The business boomedwith clientele made up of tourists and locals curious totry Chinese food.

　　Reversal of fortune

　　As Tau was about to expand, the businessman who heldthe liquor license selling drinks to her customers andwho paid half her rent, pulled out, and she was forcedto close down. In South Africa, people often enjoy someform of alcohol with their meals and without this serviceTau’s business took a big knock.

　　At the end of 2007, she closed the restaurant doors,reverting to serving takeaway meals from her home.

　　A year later, Tau received an offer from a highlyplaced woman in the banking sector with a plan to trainand equip young people to operate their own mobilekitchens cooking and selling Chinese food. It was set upas a joint venture, with Tau providing mentorship. Withfunding secured the project was launched and aftertraining 48 youngsters, the curtain came down after Taudiscovered her business partner had stolen the fundingfor the project.

　　With all her money gone, Tau lost her business andher house as she couldn’t keep up mortgage payments.“I had to leave my two daughters with my mother.”Tau said. “I cried when I was alone.”

　　From the experience she learned to be more carefulabout choosing business partners and that pain, orfailure, is often the best teacher.

　　Comeback trail

　　“For the next three years I struggled to put my life together,”Tau said. “I told myself I won’t be easily defeated.”She returned to teaching to provide for her family andbegan making sauces at home, selling to close friends. Achance meeting with the Small Enterprise DevelopmentAgency (Seda), an agency of the South African Departmentof Trade and Industry, led to assistance in lab testingand packaging of her sauces.

　　With the growth of sales, Tau, a finalist in local Radio702’s 2013 Small Business Awards, enlisted the help offive other women and they planted a vegetable gardento have a steady supply of vegetables needed for producingthe sauces.

　　“So far we are doing well and making a profit,” Tausaid. “Our mission statement is ‘We eat what we sow.’ Thismeans that we only make and sell what we would eatourselves.”

　　Tau hasn’t abandoned her dream of resurrectingher Chinese restaurant and sees her sauce business aspreparing for that eventuality.

　　Ever the entrepreneur, her next plan is to re-visit theconcept of mobile kitchens and start a franchise operationfashioned after KFC and McDonald’s but servingChinese food.

　　Each mobile kitchen will directly provide a job opportunityfor one person, with a focus on young people,women and those with disabilities, trained by Tau. Todate she has had a positive response from several governmentdepartments for funding.

　　Tau also wants to expand her vegetable garden toa farm, which would supply vegetables for the mobilekitchens and sauces.

　　When asked the inevitable question about why shelikes Chinese food so much, her answer is always thesame.

　　“It is so delicious, nutritious and prepared in a healthyway. I love it, my family loves it, my friends love it, my colleaguesin school and neighbors love it.”

　　No doubt as her business flourishes once again therewill be many, many more people in Johannesburg whowill love it too.