Poultry farmer adds feathers to her cap

Driven by the desire to become the master of her own destiny, a young poultry farmer from Soshanguve called time of her day job to focus on her passion for agriculture.

Thuli Mokwena, 30, is the brains behind RBKM Chicken, a poultry farm that specialises in broiler production, processing, and marketing.

“I have been a microbiologist for more than 10 years. I was getting bored of doing one and the same thing and I just didn’t see myself progressing where I was,” Mokwena told Vukuzenzele. “I was of the belief that I would one day be my own boss.”

She was first introduced to farming by her grandparents, who owned a five hectare agricultural plot in Winterveldt, north of Pretoria.

 “My late grandmother used to encourage me, saying my grandfather and herself were old and could no longer do it,” she said.

In 2016 she finally set the wheels in motion, establishing RBKM Chickens.

While her first foray  flopped, she was undeterred.

“In 2019, I returned to the drawing board and figured out where things had gone wrong,” she recounted.

While taking stock of the failed mission, she conceded that a lack of financial and business management skills had largely contributed to the downfall.

Not prepared to let go of her dream, she enrolled in a business management course.

“I didn’t know anything about poultry. I was helped a lot by an uncle of mine who understood poultry better than me. I gave him the whole responsibility of the production while I was still working,” she said. “Chickens consume a lot of feed and at some point, it was hitting my pocket.”

With structures in place, the business now had a clear path when Mokwena registered RBKM Chickens in 2019. The operation started in 2020 with 100 chicks.

“I then increased them gradually until we had 2000 chickens,” she said.

In July 2023, the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development       (GDARD) granted her a lease on a 21-hectare farm Jakkalsdans.

RBKM Chicken has seven chicken houses, six of these were funded by the GDARD  through the Winterveldt Poultry Value Chain programme.

Mokwena in 2021 received R50 000 funding from the National Youth Development Agency. In 2022, the agency granted the start-up a further R100 000 in funding.