When a group of women started a poultry project 15 years ago, they never thought that they would be honoured for being successful entrepreneurs. Their main objective was to fight the scourge of unemployment and poverty in their community, not to receive accolades.

The women called themselves the Marubini Multi-purpose Women Co-operative and started to work hard to put food on the table and send their children to school. "When we started the project, we did not know that one day we would find ourselves being able to provide for our families. Things were difficult when we started, but through hard work and commitment, we managed to make the project sustainable," said the women.

The project grew to the stage where today they have more than 2 000 egg-laying chickens. The project supplies eggs to businesses throughout the Vhembe district. This is a blessing to the women as they never expected that their project would go this far.

The women also contributed towards the creation of jobs as they now employ a security guard and a gardener. According to Ms Joyce Mafadza, a project manager, their days of sleeping with empty stomachs are over. "Things were difficult when we started, but now things are running smoothly. We want to encourage other women to emulate what we are doing," she said.

She said women must not sit and wait for the government to create jobs for them when they can do something for themselves.

The project won the Food Bev SETA award in 2009.