Small business inspiration: Meet Lemo Mohlabe of 'Coffee to Car'

Starting a small business can be tough, but usually the idea at the heart of it is the key to success.

This certainly proved to be the case for Lemo Mohlabe, who saw a gap for serving hot coffee to frazzled motorists stopping at traffic lights.

Mohlabe started Coffee to Car in Centurion in August 2022, after being unemployed for three years.

He tells Gugs Mhlungu the idea was sparked when he wanted coffee with his own biscuits and had to spend 20 minutes to find a place that sold it. The entrepreneur now also sells cookies he makes himself along with a cup of joe.

"The idea came because of inconvenience – I had biscuits, I needed some coffee, and I had to go out of my way to get it. That made me think about why there is no one serving coffee to me at the traffic lights."

The market for the business is the people looking for a quick coffee, not coffee connoisseurs or "snobs', he says.

"It's someone just looking for a quick coffee to pick up the energy for school drops or on their way to work and so on. So we use instant coffee, not filter.

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Mohlabe says the reception from motorists has been "amazing" from the get-go. Where people initially bought from him to support a small business, it's now part of their daily routine.

Of course there have been some challenges to overcome, starting with law enforcement telling him he could not keep his supplies in a trolley on the median, as it poses a danger to himself and to others.

"Now we carry everything on our bodies – the water, the coffee, the milk and everything that we need, we have in a bag."

"We've also found ways to work around other problems, like the weather, when it is raining. Over the three-and-a-half years we've figured out ways to deal with the challenges that we had in the teething stages."

Mohlabe is on the road with his coffee service seven days a week from 6 am "until stocks run out" on the R55, corner of Marais and Voortrekker roads, in Centurion.

You can follow him on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

To listen to Lemo Mohlabe in conversation with Gugs Mhlungu on 702's Weekend Breakfast, click on the audio link below: