Lufefe Nomjana adores spinach; in fact he loves it so much that he named his company Espinaca (Spanish for Spinach) Innovations. His story speaks of tenacity, adaptability and good old fashioned hard work.
His mother to this day serves as his role model. She singlehandedly raised him and his two brothers whilst holding down various jobs. His career has been diverse too. His love for spinach started whilst simultaneously volunteering in a community garden and at a community Health Clinic.
This combination taught him a great deal. It is here that the proverbial seed was planted so to speak. He worked closely with a dietician and had to explain eating plans to the locals. He learned a great deal. Soon he was talking the talk of GI’s and substituting white bread in his diet. This resonated with him, as it was during this time that he started experimenting with baking spinach bread. No mean feat as he had no idea of how to bake or the facilities to do so.
He spent time at the library, as he had no computer or internet access at home. Books and Google became his allies, his best friends. He researched how to bake the best bread in the world. His time, energy and resilience paid off. Books and Google provided him with the following 3 catch phrases, which he took to heart.
“Look around for resources.”
“Success comes and is inevitable when you assist others.”
“The value of asking is amazing.”
He did look around; his next door neighbour had a kitchen with an oven. She agreed for him to use it in the evening on the condition he is finished by early morning. His capital at the time was a measly R40 (less than $40 US dollars.) He would bake 4 loaves of bread for door-to-door selling. One loaf would be for sampling and the other three for selling.
He admits his first loaf wasn’t very good. His library visits continued. It took him more than a year to develop the bread recipe he was happy with –“A low-GI spinach bread, where instead of using white sugar we used brown sugar or honey and substituted flour with pea or soya flour-which gives it a reduced carbohydrate content.”
He identified the problem in the community at that time as “unhealthy eating and overall lifestyle, leading to unhealthy activity.” Culturally (here) to eat is seen as being healthy not what you eat at all. He survived on the spinach and the crops that they grew in the garden. He only ate vegetables and became vegetarian —a lifestyle he still follows today.
The demand for the bread and his reputation in the area began to grow –“like the leaves in the garden” he tended. He became known as Khayelitsha’s Spinach King. (Khayelitsha is an informal settlement outside of Cape Town.) He was busy giving back to his community and pronto success came knocking on the door.
Yes you guessed it, “the value of asking” followed. Lufefe approached Spar (a South African retailer); he asked to use their ovens in exchange for a supply of his loaves. His capacity to produce increased dramatically; it reminds of the parable of the 5 loaves and 2 fishes.
From Cape Town, South Africa
Espinaca Rules
by Bernadette Erasmus