It is just before 11:00 on a Monday morning and Chris Hani Street in Potchefstroom is bustling. Cars are darting past and the café on the corner has all manner of fruit and vegetables stacked in neat rows.

 

Sello Maroga is standing outside Afrikaner Butchery as a white pickup parks in front of the butchery and a young man wearing an orange cap nimbly jumps out.

“The boy from Mpumalanga!” says Sello in greeting before saying, “You must come and get yourself some biltong.”

 

A dream come true

 

It is this inviting demeanour that has been greeting customers to Afrikaner Butchery for the last two years. “I’ll never forget, it was 7 December and I woke up in the morning having had a dream, a vision, the previous night. God showed me a family who wanted to sell their business to me,” explains Sello.

 

That same day the Van Wyk family contacted him to sell Afrikaner Butchery.

 

“I’m enjoying it big time. There are a lot of advantages and disadvantages – like cash flow can be a problem – but this shop was presented by heaven to me and I am here to feed God’s children,” he says. “It’s a calling.”

 

A sound foundation

 

Sello obtained a Higher Education Diploma, a BCom, BComHons and a master’s degree in development and planning from the campus in Potchefstroom, setting the tone for his future successes.

 

“I had a wonderful time at the NWU. What attracted me was the Christian character of the university.”It is where he learned the ethos he lives by. “It makes me happy if I can help somebody, if I can help them to prosper and if I can deliver a service.”

 

When planning goes awry – for instance when there is load-shedding – he does get frustrated, although it takes some time for him to get there.

“Butchery is a sequence. Every person has a role to play and if they play that role to their best we function at our best.”

 

At Afrikaner Butchery it is all about teamwork – all the employees take hands to help Sello realising his dream.

 

“I want to turn the butchery into a meat boutique. If a customer walks into the butchery he or she must say: ‘This is where I want to be. I want to sit down and I want to look at all the products’.”

 

Sunny-natured Sello certainly knows what sells.