Best Friends Karabo & Katlego Create Karabego A Premium Coffee Brand. The unemployment rate in South Africa is around 28.48%, with the youth unemployment rate at 55.75%. Not enough jobs are being created to supply the demand that there is, therefore people need to explore alternative options as to how they can earn a living. Entrepreneurship has been credited as a job creator and as a tool to create social change in communities. Thus entrepreneurship should be looked at as a solution for creating employment that will reduce the high unemployment rate among the youth. Young people such as the Karabego founders are finding innovative ways to earn a living as entrepreneurs.
Karabego is a coffee brand by Karabo Makakaba and Katlego Mathibela that was established in 2020. The name of the company is derived from the combination of the founders’ names. The brand offers a wide variety of products in their range such as the Freeze Dried Instant coffee, Ethiopian Limu coffee and Medium Dark Roast Filter coffee. “I love coffee so much. This thing of buying other people’s coffee didn’t appeal to me so I figured, let me just create my own.” said Mathibela in an interview with Business Insider.
After approaching several companies to help them with the sourcing of coffee beans in Ethiopia and Brazil, they finally found one in Centurion. Raising capital for the business venture was also not an easy task for the two. “We started breaking it down into something doable for us and then started looking into ways of raining capital instead of stressing ourselves over big figures.” explained Mathibela in an interview with Business Insider. According to Business Insider, the pair made stuffed bags, masks, and art in order to raise funds for their business. s
The brand promises to delivery products that are high quality, have a great taste and affordable in a quick and efficient manner. The company sells their products over the phone and then personally make deliveries from their base in Johannesburg to buyers as far as Pietermaritzburg. So far the small business has delivered around 150 coffees and has over 100 happy clients.
