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Hard work pays off for Mbekwa

TWENTY years ago Samuel Mbekwa left his job as a salesman at a bakery. He left empty-handed because he had no pension.

Mbekwa, 56, had worked at the bakery for eight years. He turned his focus to his small supermarket in Orlando East, Soweto, which he had been running while still working.

Yesterday Mbekwa was rewarded for his hard work. He received a brand-new Mercedez-Benz C180 worth R350000 at Metcash Group offices in Crown Mines, Johannesburg, for running the best supermarket franchise in the group.

Metcash Group has 140 cash-and-carry outlets nationwide, 12 hypermarkets and 211 franchise stores.

Mbekwa runs a franchise supermarket, Viva Supasave, and a liquor store under Metcash's franchise Cellarbration.

He stood out from the best 40 franchisees selected during the company's annual convention in Swaziland two months ago.

These finalists will go on a trip to Argentina for their excellent work in April next year.

The criterion for the best franchise includes sales, promotions, social development programmes, attendance of line selection meetings, image projection and cleanliness of the supermarket.

"It encourages me to do more and excel in what I do," a very humbled Mbekwa said.

But it has been a long journey for Mbekwa, who adds his new German acquisition to a BMW 6 Series and a VW Caddy.

"I started the supermarket 20 years ago with just three people as my staff. After some time my supermarket started to do well and I quit my job at a bakery, where I worked as a salesman," he said.

His businesses got a big boost when he joined the Metcash Group - and Mbekwa never looked back.

"It was hard because I never did promotions and only relied on customers coming to my shop. But it's a different story now," he said.

Today he employs 67 people in his supermarket and liquor store.

Over the last six years Mbekwa has been running a schools soccer tournament in his community during the December and Easter holidays.

"I never miss a meeting and ensure that I do promotions every month. I also ensure that my shop is clean," Mbekwa said.

Peter Dodson, CEO of the Metcash Group, said Mbekwa stood out from the rest.

"In tough times his business has been growing significantly, and he did well in promotions and community engagement," Dodson said.

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