When the lockdown started in 2020, many businesses knew they would not survive. People lost livelihoods and the economy bled jobs as we all grappled with the chaos unleashed by the pandemic. It wasn’t all bad, though, because some businesses were able to thrive through innovation. And some, like Delivery Ka Speed, were actually born in this time of chaos and uncertainty.

“It’s natural for an entrepreneur to look at a problem and think what solutions they can come up with,” says Godiragetse Fareed Mogajane, founder of the fast-food delivery service operating in underserviced parts of Gauteng. “All of my friends started businesses during the lockdown.”

The instinct to solve problems, sell and deliver value to customers is in-built in him, Godiragetse shares, having started learning how to sell at school.

Now, between studying towards his BCom at Wits and running his core business, Goodie Tutors, the 24 year old has also started Delivery Ka Speed.

 

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“I was shocked when I was home in Hammanskraal to realise that the conveniences we are used to in Sandton were not available,” Godiragetse says of how he realised that townships needed a service similar to Uber and Mr Delivery.

Instead of waiting for someone else to solve the problem, Godiragetse got cracking. Using his savings, he set up a fast-food delivery service that started servicing the townships of Hammanskraal and Soshanguve in July this year.

“What surprised me,” he says of the warm reception Delivery Ka Speed has received, “is that we weren’t planning to take orders on day one. We were just distributing flyers, telling people about the service, but we got our first order within the first hour and I was, like, oh s**t!”

Like any business, the best feedback for Godiragetse is repeat customers. And he has them in abundance, with teachers as well as similarly time-poor people working in essentials services in hospitals and police stations being among his biggest customers during lunch.

It’s not only the convenience but also the novelty of being able to order food and get it delivered to your doorstep that’s made the service so popular. Customers place orders on WhatsApp, where a chat bot presents them with menus for restaurants in the area where the customer is. And, with navigation apps such as Google Maps not always being particularly useful in finding one’s way around a township, customers are also able to send voice notes explaining exactly where they are.

“When we started the business, we asked ourselves how do we make ourselves stand apart? How do we make our service cool?”

It turns out, scooters are the thing. Seeing them zip in and out townships streets carrying food orders is the cool thing.

The young entrepreneur already employs seven full-time employees and about 500 tutors through Goodie Tutors, and now, through Delivery Ka Speed, he’s created jobs for almost 20 more people – from drivers and shoppers to administrative staff processing orders and making sure drivers clock in on time.

All of these people are under the age of 30 and black and, although the jobs they have may not be the most lucrative, they are a start, enabling them to achieve other goals, like sending money back home and getting a driver’s licence.

 

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Godiragetse is unapologetic about his commitment to empowering young black people. “The majority of people using these [delivery] services are black but they aren’t black-owned.”

The entrepreneur is intent on changing that with his business which, although still in its nascent phase, is showing promise of growth, especially with the loosening of lockdown restrictions that has given the hospitality industry some reprieve.

Delivery Ka Speed, for instance, can now deliver booze and it complements local guesthouses and B&Bs by offering a delivery service for tourists, usually foreign, who prefer to have food from local restaurants delivered to their lodgings.

The biggest challenge for the new business is loadshedding. With many of the restaurants from which Delivery Ka Speed customers order being in areas that experience load rotation, they close when they have no power. This means Godiragetse has to refund every customer who has already placed an order. This is an ongoing challenge that is beyond his control, he says, adding he hopes loadshedding can be resolved so the restaurants can operate throughout their normal hours of trade.

“Without restaurants, we don’t have a business.”