Genius Emerges from the Biggest Loss

Although not a winner in the latest Ilembe Entrepreneur Competition, this local business woman is proving success comes from the most unexpected circumstances.

Ronel Henn of Gardening Fanatics KZN and North Coast with her ingenious patented Herb Catcher

Three years ago, Ronel Henn had lost everything. Her business partner made off with all she had from more than twenty years in the IT industry – including her pension! Her home, her car and her livelihood were stripped from her. She even had to leave her son behind in the care of her mother as she embarked on a sponsored bus trip to Ballito…

Today, Ronel Henn employs a working team and runs a successful gardening service. Gardening Fanatics KZN and North Coast was elected a finalist in the recent Ilembe Entrepreneur Competition and forced Henn to quickly hone her business skills.

“The competition culminates in an exhibition with all the finalists. I did not know what I was going to do as an ‘exhibition’ of my work,” confesses the entrepreneur. Her solution? An INGENIOUS gardening product!

Henn’s “Herb Catcher” was her last minute idea as an exhibition piece, but is quickly proving to be a winning prize in itself.

Henn’s “Herb Catcher” was her last minute idea as an exhibition piece, but is quickly proving to be a winning prize in itself.

Using a simple drain piece to ‘catch’ a water source, the tiered wall hanging is a strip of hessian pocketing the potted herbs. Water drains through each pot, watering plants beneath and ultimately being captured in  second drain pipe with a tap adaptation to allow the re-use of precious water run off again…and again.

With the professional counsel of her Business Entrepreneur mentors, Henn has put in a patent application for her device and will go in to production of the units soon.

Appearing usually in soiled work clothes with thick, muddied boots, Henn is in an industry far removed from the technological finesse of her previous career, but it is clearly an industry well suited to her.

“I like gardening,” says Henn. “It started as the only means I had to earn anything with the help of my friend, but a year after working with him, he encouraged me to break out on my own.”

Two years in her own business, and Ronel’s only remaining wish is to be reunited with her son. “My boy still stays with my mother in Bethlehem, It is three years I’ve been apart from him. The day he can come and live with me again is the day I’m looking forward to.”

Garden Fanatics KZN and North Coast: 078 583 1050

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