Aug 2025 1st edition

From grandmother’s spaza to township tech

Sinethemba Ncede (35) is transforming the township trade sector in South Africa by connecting spaza shop owners with customers, suppliers and partners through his technology platform, Jinjer. Sinethemba Ncede the owner of Jinjer, creating jobs through his unique idea of connecting spaza shops owners with customers and suppliers

Raised in Cradock in the Eastern Cape by his grandmother, who owned a spaza shop, Ncede witnessed first-hand the challenges faced by informal retailers. This early exposure would later inspire him to create a digital solution to empower small businesses like hers.

He founded Jinjer in 2020 with a mission to digitise informal trade.“South Africa’s spaza shop economy is vibrant but underserved when it comes to data, infrastructure and logistics. We built Jinjer to be the technology layer between Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) manufacturers, distributors, and township retailers,” he explained

The platform helps spaza shops to place orders directly using voice notes, images or text; to access exclusive deals and stock updates from nearby wholesalers and distributors; be visible to brands for activation campaigns, surveys and product education; receive delivery coordination via assigned local transporters; and on the other end, it helps big FMCG brands gain real-time visibility into informal market sales and reach.

Ncede also worked in logistics, ran a cement distribution business, and later shifted his focus to the information technology industry to build solutions with social impact. His varied experience enabled him to start a business that seeks to close the digital gap in the Spaza shop sector.

“Manufacturers didn’t know what was happening on the ground, and spaza shop owners were left behind in the digital space. Jinjer was built to close that gap, give township retailers a voice in the supply chain, and unlock value for everyone,” Ncede said.

Currently, the business has over 20,000 spaza shops connected across Gauteng, the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, and the number grows every month.

It has directly created eight jobs across its technology, sales, support and operations department.

“Indirectly, we enable over 160 income-generating opportunities for field agents, delivery drivers and brand activators across the country who earn through campaigns and order fulfilment on the platform,” he said.

Jinjer operates in selected areas where it has partnered with local distributors and onboarded field agents. It links up spaza shops with distributors in areas in which it operates, helping them to deliver orders and run campaigns.

Jinjer has entered into an agreement with Unilever as an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) tool to manage their township route-to-market.

ERP is a business management software system that integrates various core business processes, such as finance, human resources, supply chain, and customer relationship management, into a unified system.

Did you know?

The Minister of Small Business Development, Stella Ndabeni, launched the R500 million spaza Shop Support Fund (SSSF) to assist entrepreneurs who want to establish start-ups, expand their businesses, and gain essential business skills to improve the performance of their enterprises.

The department and its stakeholders are currently running roadshows and awareness campaigns to encourage more registered spaza shops to apply for funding. Jointly administered by the National Empowerment Fund (NEF) and the Small Enterprise Development Finance Agency (SEFA), the fund provides critical financial and non-financial support to township businesses, including community convenience stores and spaza shops. 

The fund offers various types of support, including the initial purchase of stock via delivery channel partners, upgrading of building infrastructure, systems, refrigeration, shelving and security, as well as training programmes. These include point-of-sale devices, business skills, digital literacy, credit health, food safety and business compliance.

For more information about Jinjer, visit: www.jinjer.co.za or email: hello@jinjer.co.za 

How to apply for funding:
Contact details:
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