Madoda Khuzwayo: From rural boy to coding entrepreneur extraordinaire
“I was a rural boy, and so the first time I ever touched a computer was my first semester at varisty. It changed my world.”
Vital stats:
- Madoda Khuzwayo is the co-founder of OPENTENDERS, an SME marketplace that he launched with Mnive Nhlabathi and Sivu Maqungo.
Madoda Khuzwayo doesn’t know the meaning of the words ‘give up’. Born and raised in rural KZN, he only touched his first computer when he got to university, and he’s been in love ever since. Even though he had an engineering bursary from Eskom, his goal was to launch a tech business, and that’s been his core focus since his late teens.
It’s been a challenging journey. After completing his degree, he moved to the UK to get an IT degree. His plan was to work to pay for his studies.
It meant long hours and weekends, but he managed to secure a job at the Mini factory working the long weekend shifts, and by 2003 he was returning to South Africa with his second degree in hand, and big plans for the future.
Of course, things never go quite as planned. Khuzwayo’s first business idea – a website that matched prospective renters with rentees for the FIFA 2010 World Cup – won the SAB Kickstarter nationals, but never got off the ground thanks to changes in FIFA’s regulations around certified accommodation.
“You don’t get everything right first time round,” he says, adding that the important thing is to keep pushing. “Every pivot in a business model or pricing structure takes you one step closer to success.
You just need to see the lesson in every change, learn from it, and keep looking for the perfect product market-fit.”
His latest company, OPENTENDERS, launched with business partners Mnive Nhlabathi and Sivu Maqungo is aiming to be South Africa and Africa’s largest SME marketplace and tender website in the very near future.
With the right mix of passion, focus, and tech acumen that keeps improving the OPENTENDERS platform, the ingredients for success are certainly there.
Top lesson:
“We had to go back to the drawing board three times before we found a platform that offered real value to SMEs as well as a revenue model that worked for us.
We know that in order to create a business of value, you need to be willing to listen to your market and pivot when needed. Keep pushing, keep looking for better solutions, and keep focusing on the end goal.”