It’s Chai Time with Wesley Moonsamy

Wesley Moonsamy completed his Master’s Degree in Information Systems at the College of Science, Engineering and Technology (CSET) in 2021. His master’s project was supervised by Professor Shawren Singh, chair of the Department of Information Systems  at CSET. As part of the college’s “Bakae – where are they?” programme that tracks the progress of its alumni, we had a brief chat with Wesley to find out how the qualification obtained has equipped him and shaped his career. This is what he had to say.

After being retrenched early in 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic started sweeping through South Africa, finding employment didn’t seem like an option. I read a quote that said, “The harder you work, the luckier you get”. I therefore decided to work hard, stay on track and complete the last leg of my master’s degree in information systems through Unisa whilst looking into possible business ventures.

Wesley Moonsamy

My journey with Unisa started in 2006 when I registered for an honours degree in Computer Science part time, whilst working full time. After working in several industries such as retail, loyalty and manufacturing, and given my strong information systems background (strengthened by my master’s degree), I decided to start an online store.

My wife and business partner suggested that we sell items that are not commonly sold by the major retailers and are therefore hard to find. It immediately occurred to me that chai (a spicy flavoured tea) is something that is enjoyable and becoming more popular, but difficult to find. Armed with a small initial capital, we set out to find suppliers of chai.  As we went about finding suppliers, we met other local entrepreneurs who had also been hit hard by the economic setbacks. At this point, our vision started to take shape and we realised that we wanted to help and promote other local entrepreneurs. With this realisation came the decision to form a relationship with other business owners and we agreed to add their products to our online platform once it was ready.

Based on basic computer science principles, I decided not to reinvent the wheel but to utilise an existing e-commerce platform that can be customised to suit our needs. Within two weeks and with limited sleep, we launched www.itschaitime.co.za on 27 September 2021 with a product range of around 30 items. A month later, we had around 50 products on our site. We have since tripled our offering to more than 150 products, including green tea, nuts, dried fruit, gourmet popcorn and spices that can be delivered nationwide.

Running an online business entails more than just procuring stock and having an efficient selling platform. It is about marketing and forming relationships with both customers and suppliers. This approach is essential in creating a mutualistic relationship.

In a country where the official unemployment rate is at an all-time high (34,9% in the third quarter of 2021),  it is encouraging to learn of great strides and leaps to entrepreneurship that our students are making while contributing to the economic stability of our country.

* By Dr Nozipho N Gumbi, Acting Communication and Marketing Specialist, College of Science, Engineering and Technology & Lesego Maloka, Administrative Assistant, College of Science, Engineering and Technology