A young farmer in Edendale, Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, is rapidly expanding her horizons after experiencing remarkable success in her chicken farming business. At just 23, Ntobeko Mafu is the founder and managing director of Madame Clucks A Lot, a thriving small-scale farming enterprise that employs seven people.
Her business is not your average farm. Mafu’s organic farming venture produces both broiler and layer chickens, grows vegetables, and offers farming training services. In addition to her farming achievements, Mafu is an accomplished author, having published her first book, Letters to Whoever Needs to Hear This: Notes from Me, in 2019.
Mafu’s journey into farming began in 2019 when she was only 18, following the loss of her father, who had been an avid subsistence farmer. “The land I now farm on was my dad’s,” she recalls. “When he passed away, everything changed. The food he used to grow for our family dried up, and there was a noticeable shift in our household.”
Although she had no prior farming experience or ambitions, Mafu felt a strong determination to pick up where her father left off. Initially, her goal was simply to feed her family with homegrown produce. However, her perseverance soon turned into a full-fledged business—though not without its challenges. As a young woman in a male-dominated industry, she has faced obstacles.
“Managing staff is another challenge. I often hire people when they are desperate for work, but once they start, some undermine me because I’m a woman. When that happens, I have to let them go,” she explained.
In 2023, Mafu’s entrepreneurial spirit was recognized on an international scale. A proud alumnus of the Durban University of Technology’s (DUT) Innobiz Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, she was selected to attend the prestigious Asia World Model United Nations (AWMUN) Offline Conference in Thailand, where she spoke about food insecurity in South Africa.
Thanks to support from the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) and the Msunduzi Local Municipality, Mafu was able to finance her trip to the conference. NYDA also assisted Madame Clucks A Lot with R50,000 worth of farming equipment, including feeders, pluckers, lights, and feed.
Today, Mafu’s business produces 600 broiler chickens per cycle, supplying local resellers and individual customers. But her ambitions don’t stop there—her current backyard space is nearly maxed out, and she dreams of moving to a larger farm. With more room to grow, Mafu believes she can reach her full potential as a commercial farmer.
“I’m ready to take this business to the next level,” she says, determined to make a lasting impact on South African agriculture.
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