The Poultry Master Plan has helped Limpopo businesswoman, academic and pastor, Dr Patience Mlengana, take her parents’ chicken business to a higher level that could have made her parents proud of her. Mlengana is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PMM Agri, and runs a successful broiler production business in Tzaneen, Limpopo.
The funding that she received from the Department of Trade, Industry and Industry (the dtic), through one of its agencies, the Industrial Development Corporation, has enabled her to grow the business exponentially from producing 40 000 chickens per cycle to 350 000 per cycle.
The support was part of the rollout of the Poultry Master Plan that was signed by the private and public sector representatives at the second South African Investment Conference in November 2019. The objectives of the plan include stimulating investment, job creation, exports, and the establishment of black contract growers. PMM Agri is one of the fourteen companies that have been supported through the Agro Industry Fund, to the tune of almost R1.3 billion. More than 850 jobs have been created in the process.
“My parents, Ben and Rosina Mhlari occasionally took me along when they went to work on their chicken farm 30 kilometres away from our house at Nkowankowa township in Tzaneen. I watched them working hard in the business and using the money to support me and take me through school and university. My father, in particular, emphasised the importance of his children acquiring education. He seemingly saw me becoming a businesswoman one day as he insisted that I should study for a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree,” recalls Mlengana.
When her parents passed on, Mlengana, who holds a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Degree in Leadership and Management from the United States-based Logos University, which she dedicated to her father, a Master’s Degree in Information Science from the University of Johannesburg, and a Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences Degree from the University of Limpopo, decided to take over her parents’ business.
By that time, she had already established herself as a successful businesswoman in the real estate and telecoms industries.
“When my parents passed on it soon dawned on me that I could not let their legacy disappear. I remembered the huge sums of money that my parents paid for my university studies from the income they generated from the business. I remembered that I am who I am because of that chicken business, and I could never let it go down. Instead, I vowed to make it even bigger in honour of their dedication, resilience and hard work,” says Mlengana.
Her mission began with a loan from a commercial bank to add three chicken houses to the one that her parents had built. She was then approved by the IDC for the construction of three additional houses. Today, Mlengana is a proud owner of seven chicken houses each with a carrying capacity of 50 000 chickens.
“It really makes me happy to have managed to grow my parents’ business from 40 000 chickens per cycle to 350 000. It is greatly inspiring,” says Mlengana.
“Even more fulfilling is the fact that this business is impacting the lives of the local people positively, by creating employment for them and changing their lives for the better. We are providing jobs to 15 permanent and 30 temporary employees. It is also encouraging when government support promotes transformation, women empowerment, and rural economic development,” notes Mlengana, who produces for the nearby Bush Valley Abattoir.
She has started the process of expanding the business by adding 18 more chicken houses. This will take her production to more than 1.2 million chickens per cycle. She is happy that an increase in production will translate into more jobs.
“There will always be a room for growth in the broiler chicken industry in South Africa. The demand in the country exceeds supply; hence, we are importing more than 500 000 tons of chicken meat per year. The support that is provided as part of the Poultry Master Plan helps us contribute in increasing production in order to decrease imports,” notes Mlengana.
“But to achieve genuine, meaningful and impactful transformation, the implementation of the plan needs to ensure that black businesspeople are assisted to occupy the entire value chain of the industry from parent stock, breeding, hatchery, growing broilers, to abattoir and milling,” advises Mlengana.
Getting inspiration to grow the family legacy – the CEO of PMM Agri, Dr Patience Mlengana in her boardroom with the painting of the parents hanging on the wall
The CEO of PMM Agri, Dr Patience Mlengana in front of some of the chicken houses in Tzaneen
The CEO of PMM Agri, Dr Patience Mlengana inside one of the chicken houses in Tzaneen
For media enquiries and interview requests:
Bongani Lukhele – Director: Media Relations
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E-mail: BLukhele@thedtic.gov.za
Issued by: The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic)
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