CAPITEC JOINS MELVILLE COMMUNITY OF CUSTOMERS IN HONOURING MA BETTY
A community who’ve bought mielies from Betty Nduli for decades, come together to lighten her load.
Betty Nduli has been a pillar of her community in Hammanskraal, for almost sixty years, by providing for her family and those around her by selling mielies from a trolley in Melville. Hearing that she’d be retiring, her community of customers got together to brainstorm how they could help ease her burden.
“My mom started selling mielies when we were still very young. She used to wake up early on Mondays at around 5am and then get to Joburg around 8am where she would then sell and deliver her food before coming home very late on Saturdays,” explains daughter Mary Ntuli.
“The only thing I was worried about was how am I going to put food on the table for my kids to eat. That has been my biggest worry since I stopped selling, because, when I was still selling mielies I came back from Joburg with some food,” shares Betty Nduli.
As Betty banks with Capitec, the community initiative came to their attention.
“Betty’s story struck a chord with us at Capitec because she’s been selling mielies in Melville for over six decades, trying to feed her family and the people of her community, ” comments Esona Ndongeni, Content Marketing and Production Specialist at Capitec.
“We saw in the media that the people in Hammanskraal were banding together to raise funds for Ma Betty’s retirement, and we thought why not chip in – seeing as she has been a Capitec client for over nine years,” adds Esona.
Capitec hit on a way to help sustain the community legend through retirement by delivering a custom-built trailer for Ma Betty to use as a spaza and aid her quest to continue supporting her family and her community.
The design team wanted to uplift Betty’s business from what it already was. She has been a longstanding client of Capitec and has had a positive impact on those around her so, the goal was to elevate her business beyond just her neighbourhood.
To ease her burden, this mobile kitchen/spaza shop can be operated by Betty or anyone she chooses; from her home or anywhere she pleases. The only question was how she’d feel about it?
“When I saw the truck I was over the moon. Thank you Capitec! I am so happy and am now going to sleep peacefully at night,” exclaims Betty.
It was heartening to know that as a bank, Capitec were doing right by Betty’s kids too.
“I opened a Capitec account for my mom because she sometimes had to stay in Joburg for a fortnight, so one of us would have to go to Joburg to fetch money from her as she wasn’t able to send the money back home. I decided to open a Capitec account for her as the interest is reasonable, and there are branches everywhere,” shares daughter Nomsa Ntuli.
Capitec believes firmly that supporting community initiatives fosters a supportive society.
“It’s important to support community initiatives. We have over 18 million customers that love us. We want to show that love back and feel that this fosters an environment of giving back,” shares Jordan Dunn, Marketing Co-ordinator at Capitec.
“I’m most excited for Ma Betty because now she doesn’t have to go to the big streets of Johannesburg as she has her own spaza right here in her own community,” shares Esona.
From the energy she still shows, Ma Nduli’s retirement might become more of a reimagining of how she chooses to work. Either way, that’s her privilege. Here’s to a restful and prosperous time ahead for Betty and her family – and who knows – maybe a franchise!
