LIONESS WEEKENDER COVER STORY
Sinenhlanhla Ndlela, a South African entrepreneur on a mission to make delicious artisanal dairy free ice cream.
For all those people out there who love the idea of gorgeous ice cream, but cannot eat dairy produce, help is at hand. YoCoco, an exciting artisanal dairy free ice cream brand created by the talented Sinenhlanhla Ndlela, is tantalizing tastebuds in South Africa with fabulous flavour combinations and taste sensations.
More and more consumers are becoming health conscious, with many looking to give up or reduce the amount of dairy produce in their daily diets. Some are even making major lifestyle decisions and embarking on the life-long journey to becoming vegan. But often these decisions are tough in the early days because it means having to give up tastes and food products that you have loved, such as ice cream. But all that is changing for South African consumers, thanks to the talented entrepreneur, Sinenhlanhla Ndlela, founder of YoCoco. She is a rising star of the vegan-friendly food scene, as her business and brand focuses on producing truly delicious, artisanal, dairy free ice cream, using as many locally sourced ingredients and taste profiles as possible.
Speaking about her journey to becoming an entrepreneur and getting the inspiration for starting YoCoco, founder and creative force Sinenhlanhla Ndlela says,
“I was on a spiritual journey to find my purpose which I know is to serve love - at the same time I wanted to become a vegan and I realized there was no ice cream on the market that is dairy free that I could enjoy. At YoCoco, all our ice cream products are dairy free, hand made, and each flavour is designed according to a chakra. I wanted to create something that is completely vegan friendly and has a strong intention of love - what this means is the ingredients had to be meaningful which is why we loosely base them on the 7 chakras and colour therapy and the packaging also had to be environmentally friendly and be fun!”
Today, the YoCoco team is growing as the business and brand develops. Sinenhlanhla still personally handles everything from marketing to production. However, she has now added other fun, creative and ice cream loving people to her team who share her passion. This sense of team is important as Sinenhlanhla’s future plans and aspirations for the YoCoco brand rely on the company being able to run itself with an efficient happy team. Her future plan is to expand out of Johannesburg and be the ‘go-to’ dairy free ice cream brand in the country.
This has been quite a journey for Sinenhlanhla and YoCoco since she started this fun business and brand building trip in her apartment in 2016, with the help of a few strangers she met in the building’s elevator who dared to come taste the ice cream in its infancy. Her entrepreneurial journey to becoming an artisanal ice cream producer has been an interesting one, as she started with a career background in television writing and post production. However, family inspiration and role models could have played a key part in her decision to take the plunge in the entrepreneurial world. Her parents have been involved in business since they were young as a way to feed their families. So when she was growing up she got to see her parents start businesses, and also close them.
Speaking about what gives her the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur today, Sinenhlanhla says,
“When I see my product make someone happy, the fact that I made it myself and it has a direct impact on someone else makes my heart so warm.”
Her advice for other women entrepreneurs looking to startup in business themselves is:
“Just start exactly where you are. Your business is not going to start at the big picture you see in your mind, you need to build it with what you have right now, and the rest will follow.”
To find out more about YoCoco, visit the website www.yococo.co.za
To contact Sinenhlanhla Ndlela and the YoCoco team, email Info@yococo.co.za
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