When Rita Zwane established her restaurant with a single pot and two employees in 1997, she did not anticipate the growth that would make her place the most popular chill spot in Midrand and Tembisa.

Starting out with the pot for cooking pap, a gas griller for the meat and a display fridge for little she had for salads and other accompaniments, Zwane's Imbizo Shisanyama is now an institution.

Busy Corner, as Imbizo is more popuarly known, is located in Ebony Park, Midrand, just outside Tembisa on the East Rand.

On any given day, the spot attracts hundreds of patrons from all over Gauteng and other parts of the country.

Driving past Imbizo is a marvel, with all the luxury vehicles hogging a huge, paved parking area, a far cry from the dusty spot four years ago when it all began.

"The business has today become one of the fastest growing sector in the food, beverage and hospitality industry in South Africa.

"Imbizo prides itself in the history of Africa, with an inspiration from the South African identity and traditions." Zwane said.

"Historically, South African families have always had a culture to braai meat around an open fire when performing traditional ceremonies and celebrations.

"This culture has been practised across racial lines and class. We can safely say that a braai is a single most common practice that carries our history."

She proudly admitted all these heritage factors are the reason for the success of her business. Today, Imbizo employs over 60 permanent staff members with benefits such as provident fund and funeral cover.

"With dedication and commitment, the business strives to help uplift the surrounding community.

"This includes the involvement of the community in the everyday running of the business, such as car guards on weekends and braai masters. This helps a further 20 families."

The restaurant outsources its security and cleaning requirements to local businesses and remains committed to developing other small businesses in the community.

"The car wash, for instance, employs a further 14 young people. In total, over a 100 families are supported by Imbizo business today."

Zwane said she started the business with her life savings of R5000, which Imbizo has turned into millions of rands in nearly two decades.

She said there were always challenges in establishing a business, but she added it was important to see a challenge in a positive light.

"Challenges offer entrepreneurs the ability to be creative, to learn and overcome. This is the true ingredient of success."

Zwane said one of the biggest challenges she faced when her business was picking up was getting finance to expand it.

"Often new business ventures or ideas require a lump sum investment or a financial backer in order to cover various costs such as deposits on lease agreements, land development costs, external project management fees et cetera. These costs ultimately end up being the red tape that stifles many small business ideas and can be extremely demotivating when chasing your dream."

She said her recipe for success was hard work. "Nothing can replace good, old-fashioned hard work, discipline, keeping a positive attitude and patience. At the end of the day, nothing is more valuable than an entrepreneur's determination and sheer resilience.

"Challenges will come and go, and as a business grows they will get more complex and some might seem insurmountable. But if an entrepreneur has a clear vision of their dream, combined with the above-character attributes, then success may take time but it is inevitable," she said.