It took Soweto entrepreneur Thando Makhubu a mere R700 from his social grant to build a thriving ice-cream business.

His phone hadn't stopped ringing when Sowetan met him at his home in Jabulani on Friday afternoon - just a day after President Cyril Ramaphosa sang his praises during the State of the Nation Address. The president was congratulating him on using his R350 social relief of distress (SRD) grant to start Soweto Creamery, a business that has employed four people.

After Ramaphosa mentioned his business, the 30-year-old received thousands of calls from family and friends congratulating him. Makhubu was so overwhelmed that he had to switch off his phone.

He runs the business from his mother's home. He told SowetanLIVE that his venture started out as an experiment on August 2 2020. He had applied for the grant in March 2020 and received the first payment in May, which he used on his family. He then saved his next two payouts (June and July).

With the R700, he bought ice cream-making accessories which included 300ml plastic tubs to pour ice cream. He started selling the product to friends and family who then spread the word.

From his start up stock he spent R700 and sold the ice-cream to friends and family and generated an income of about R5 000 which he used to buy more stock.

While in the second stock well-known people like Mohale Motaung rocked up with their friends to support him. Mohale bought the ice-cream and took a picture and uploaded it on social media.  It was viewed 22,000 times. From then he has never looked back.

“I was sleeping at home bored when I came up with this idea. Before Covid-19, I was working as a photographer targeting mostly events. At the time I did not have money or income. My mother and my sister were the ones buying food. I applied for grant money and I was approved. The first stock I bought made me over R5,000.”

Behind his mom's house Makhubu has set up tables, benches and big umbrellas for his customers.

“Mohale who came after three days of opening is the one who really got us more customers. Since alcohol was banned that time people bought a lot of Ice-ream. On Saturday people spend the whole day here and leave when we close at 6pm.

Since Ramaphosa mentioned the business, Makhubu  said he was expecting more people to come. Makhubu’s ice-cream is not your typical township ice-cream it has its own niche market that supports him. The cheapest ice-cream is R70 and the top of the range is R390, all served in tubs. It is a delicate ice-cream created with a lot of artistry and love.

People come as far as Pretoria, North West, Johannesburg North and KwaZulu-Natal to dig in. On a good week, Makhubu makes over R20,000 while on a bad week, he gets about R5,000.

“We have come a long way. I remember when we started we did not even have a fridge and furniture for people to sit. We were using my mother’s freezer which was too small. On days that we had more customers we'd run up and down going to Jabulani Mall to buy stock.”

“But we have since bought a big freezer and generator for load-shedding. I am happy that this business has helped supporting other black businesses in the area. There is a woman who sells food on the other side. People who come here also go on the other side to buy food. The person who supplies us for our stock is a black woman.”

He has employed his mother, sister and a car guard.