--- title: "Nothing ventured, nothing gained" id: "9539" type: "post" slug: "nothing-ventured-nothing-gained" published_at: "2022-07-29T06:12:35+00:00" modified_at: "2025-09-19T08:43:39+00:00" url: "https://uat.boston.ac.za/blog/nothing-ventured-nothing-gained/" markdown_url: "https://uat.boston.ac.za/blog/nothing-ventured-nothing-gained.md" excerpt: "She only started with her farming journey two years ago, but success has followed the 28-year-old Ncumisa Mkabile from the" taxonomy_category: - "BCC Blog" --- **She only started with her farming journey two years ago, but success has followed the 28-year-old Ncumisa Mkabile from the Eastern Cape. This community activist and farmer** **has since won awards and became an influencer for highly influential brands in the country.** **And she’s not done yet.** Born in Cofimvaba, Mkabile moved to Cape Town at a tender age of six years and her love of entrepreneurship started when she helped her father at their home tuck shop. The travel and tourism graduate from Boston City Campus, resigned from her job at the City of Cape town in 2018 to kick-start her businesses of selling sweets and African food in Khayelitsha. *Following two years of Covid19 restrictions…* ## **Nothing ventured, nothing gained** Mkabile decided to venture into farming on a two-hectare piece of land at a nearby school. She farms with spinach and sells chickens. “I decided to approach UXolo High School to get their piece of land that was not used, to start my operations. The other reason was that I could not get funding because the other land I was using I did not have a lease agreement. “I am happy to be here because there is access to water, access to electricity and it is school land, so I do not need a lease agreement,” she explains. She says she is delighted at the amount of success stories she has had in a short period of time. “I am a self-taught farmer, and my fears went out of the window the minute I started working the land. The support structure has really been my community who are supporting me wholeheartedly. “In giving back to the very same community, I have employed seven people – two permanent while the other five are seasonal. I supply my spinach to the local Spar supermarket, most areas in Khayelitsha and to ordinary community members,” she shares. 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