Fish exporter gets top post in Women’s Entrepreneurial Network

LEONARD NEILL A WOMAN who exports fresh fish from two shops in the Eastern Cape has been rewarded for her endeavours in assisting the country’s economy. Bulewa Qupe was the shock choice as first vice-president of the South African Women’s Entrepreneurial Network at the organisation’s initial gathering in Kempton Park last week. Qupe entered the business world 10 years ago when openings emerged for small enterprise South African companies to enter the export market. She had been part of a group of women who had been marketing fish on the local scene. She began with her first shop in the Port Elizabeth region under the label of Buntu Marketing, Exporting and Processing. When the hungry Spanish market consumed her entire output, she opened a second shop under the same name, with all of its production also heading for Spain. But even her position as chairman of the Eastern Province women’s group of fish marketers hadn’t prepared her for the distinction awarded her at the inaugural meeting of the national group. “I never expected to be recognised like this,” she says. “It shows that hard work in the small and medium size business world can lead to bigger things.”