Phumzile Chifunyise is the Founder of The Crop Box and CEO of GreenNatives Pty Ltd, a Skills, Enterprise and Supplier Development agency aimed at designing and implementing disruptive, impactful strategies that provide small businesses with access to expertise, growth opportunities, and markets across industries.
The purpose of Green Natives is to advance the presence and overall participation of marginalised groups such as Youth and Women in mainstream economies across the continent, with the view of achieving Localisation, Transformation, and ultimately Job Creation.
Phumzile is an advocate for social cohesion and economic inclusion with a 10 year background in Capability Building, Communication, & Economic Development, having serviced industries such as Marketing, Sales & Distribution, Sustainability & Corporate Affairs both in Africa and Globally in the private sector. A qualified Journalist by trade, her expertise lie in Strategy Development, Programme & Project Management, BBBEE, Stakeholder Relations, Oral & Written Communication, and Reputation Management.
Phumzile has enjoyed an admirable career in the private sector including most recently leading one of South Africa’s oldest Enterprise Development programmes at the South African Breweries (SAB KickStart) for Youth & Women entrepreneurs (2017-2019), where she pioneered their current agri-preneurship programme for Young Urban Farmers in South Africa. With a passion for transformation across industries, this also included graduating women in areas such as Logistics into large supply chains.
To amplify this, she launched The Crop Box, a digital based fresh produce delivery service that closes the gap between local farmers and consumers in order to shorten the supply chain and grow local farmers.
Lastly, Phumzile Chifunyise is currently a Mrs South Africa 2020 Top 50 Semi-Finalist where she spends time networking with a wide variety of business, corporate women in order to advance her philanthropic causes.
Qualifications:
1. Bachelor of Arts: Journalism, University of Johannesburg (2009)
2. White Belt Certified (2019)
3. Qualified Assessor: Unit Standard 115753 (2020)
Phumzile Chifunyise is an advocate for social cohesion and economic inclusion, especially for marginalized groups such as Youth and Women. With a 9-year background in Capability Building, Communication, & Economic Development, I believe the time has come for us to find and apply innovative yet sustainable solutions to localization, job creation and entrepreneurship.
Phumzile Chifunyise is a qualified Journalist by trade, who enjoys storytelling as a form of reputation and brand management. For the past 3 years I’ve led SA’s oldest ED programme, SAB KickStart for Youth & Women entrepreneurs, with a special focus on innovative agri-preneurship solutions for young urban farmers in South Africa.
