EKASINOMICS: SA's first ever mopane worm chocolatE

She went ahead and did the thing financial advisers always tell us not to do. But what else could she do? the businesswoman jokes. She had a vision – to bring exquisitely packaged masonja products to the world, while uplifting her community at the same time – but she didn’t have the capital. “So I cashed out my pension fund to start my business in November 2021,” the Joburg-based businesswoman, Wendy Vesela-Ntimbani, tells Drum. And so far, so good, she adds. There are challenges, she admits, primarily funding. But so far, she has managed to employ seven people, four of whom are based in Johannesburg and three of whom are in Phalaborwa where the harvesting of the delicious mopane worms which are the main ingredient of her products, Matomani, happens