Amanda Witbooi, also known as “DJ Amish” was born and raised in Cape Town. She started a catering, tent and catering equipment hire business 4 years ago, after giving up on the idea that she would ever reach financial security as an employee. She reinvests a portion of her revenue back into the business, including for the purchase of new tents each year. She also works as a paid DJ, charging by the hour at events.

Amanda is unmarried with no children, and lives in her late mother’s house. She is the eldest of five siblings. She wants to leave a legacy for her family and hopes her nephews and nieces will take over the business one day. Her vision is to start a small restaurant, though local bylaws limit such businesses in residential areas.

Amanda’s challenges include staff, as well as working capital management: Putting up tents is heavy work that she can’t do alone. She knows every step of assembly and balancing, but she needs reliable and physically strong workers, who are sometimes hard to come by. She invests some of the revenue she earns through the business in a traditional rotating savings scheme, but better financial management would probably be helpful.