LISTEN: How pet food entrepreneur managed to save his startup during a time of crisis

"I love great stories... stories about people who are gutsy, and when they get into trouble they find solutions."

That's Bruce Whitfield's intro ahead of his interview with Nhlanhla Dlamini, who founded Maneli Pets in 2016.

The entrepreneur managed to save his company by making a plan when Stage 6 loadshedding threatened the startup venture.

While it is ironic for Maneli that power cuts have eased in the past month, it's also unlikely that they won't resume at some point.

He explains that he chose the particularly competitive pet food category for his business with an eye first on the export market.

"South Africa has some really unique protein like ostrich, venision and warthog ... and I wanted to export those to the US, Europe and parts of Asia. That's how we got our foothold into the pet industry.

"Subsequently we also got into local pet shops, then vets and then ultimately into the domestic retail space."

Nhlanhla Dlamini, CEO - Maneli Pets

Then intensified loadshedding hit, and when it reached stages 5 and 6, their refrigeration- and dehydration-dependent factory had to close.

It became clear that Maneli Pets needed a long-term sustainable power solution.

They'd started installing solar panels in 2018, but required funding to conclude the process.

Banks are not open to those types of requests, particularly for SMMEs, Dlamini says.

Already a supplier for Shoprite, he approached the Group with a financing proposal.

"Being a supplier helped... They saw that our supply was waning and our ability to scale was really badly impaired by loadshedding."

Nhlanhla Dlamini, CEO - Maneli Pets

Two other funders also helped, but the Shoprite Group was 'the most instrumental'.

One of the lessons he learned from this experience was to speak out, Maneli says.

While retailers are tough when they have to be, a lot of them are actually fair and willing to hear you out, he adds.

"One of my lessons was speak up if you're struggling on your own, and thank goodness I did speak up to the Shoprite Group. We had to open up our books, ad it was a very fair and honest conversation."

"Everything was finally installed last month and we've been operating seamlessly for the last 25 days... of course, ironically, we haven't had any loadshedding!"

Nhlanhla Dlamini, CEO - Maneli Pets