“Black owned businesses are only a few in the printing business, and it generally feels good to be one of the black pioneers. I have brought printing right at the doorstep of people in Soweto,” Johannes Shasha, founder and managing director of Menyetla Litho Digital Silkscreen Print and Signs, tells Transform SA Online in an interview. He is delighted that the cooperative of six members is now making a name for itself after a slow start.
Menyetla Litho Digital Silkscreen Print and Signs business cards and invoices, banners, t-shirts and sells stationery for clients in the populous township of Soweto. It brings the convenience to people of Soweto.
The organisations’s growth is the dividend of what Shasha describes as “strategic marketing”. Menyetla Litho Digital Silkscreen Print and Signs does its marketing through pamphlets, sends smses and business cards to market their business.
The main obstacle that the business faces currently is low efficiency of equipment, Shasha bewails.
“Some of the machines are outmoded and cannot keep up with high demand.
“Due to lack or little funds, the cooperative cannot afford state of the art machinery. In addition, experienced graphic designers do not come cheap,”he says. Despite the challenges, Shasha is positive. “I foresee a wide scope of growth for the business,” he adds.
Shasha concedes that he does not have a crystal ball to foretell the future, but his wish is to see Menyetla Litho Digital Silkscreen Print and Signs grow, hire skilled employees and train the youth.
Menyetla Litho Digital Silkscreen Print and Signs’ is one of the illustrious account of a person resolute to get ahead in a field he is staunchly passionate about. After retirement Shasha decided to buy second hand printing machines and started working from a garage at his home. Later when the business was growing he found a place at No. 1 Calandla Street, Klipspruit, where the business is situated.
