Barely a year after switching the warm climes of Durban’s Indian Ocean for windy Cape Town in the Atlantic Ocean, popular Durban University of Technology graduate and star artist Maronga Karora has already found entrepreneurial success in the nation’s legislative capital.

The popular 27-year-old Illovo Beach born artist recently placed third in the Youth Start CT Entrepreneurial Challenge, an initiative of the City of Cape Town in collaboration with financial services giant Absa Bank aimed at fostering entrepreneurship among young people by providing them with training and support to translate their ideas into viable businesses.

As an eagle-eyed young entrepreneur who is always on the lookout for opportunities to grow his venture, Karora explains that he had come across the Youth Start CT Entrepreneurial Challenge while searching for opportunities on the internet.

“I opted to enter this competition after being inspired by wanting to challenge myself in a new city, to expose my business to a new market and also the opportunity to do well and potentially get the funding that I was looking to get for the business,” the soft-spoken Karora shares.

  At the glitzy awards evening, held on recently at the Seapoint Civic Centre in Cape Town, he walked away with the Most Improved Pitch Award in the Existing Business Category and R2000 monetary reward, while he also placed third overall in the Youth Start CT

Entrepreneurial Challenge under the Existing Business Category, accumulating R15 000 for this honour.

“Coming in third place and winning the Most Improved Pitch award meant a lot to me, looking at where I’d come from in the competition. There had been three rounds, and in the first round I didn’t make the top five, in the second I had to push so much to be in the top five.  This has built a sense of confidence in me, that the more I pitch out there, the more confident I become and the more I understand my business. Professionally, for the business to be recognised and be able to convince the judges that this is a feasible and profitable business meant a lot for me professionally as an entrepreneur,” Karora explained.

The awards garnered in Cape Town have also come with additional support for his business, including a mentorship programme, financial and marketing assistance and other prizes beneficial to his business.

“I’m seeking to push for more opportunities, more funding, more exposure to the markets since I am still new in the Cape Town environment. There is a lot of work to be done on my end, so those are key areas I am looking to put work in,” he said.

Karora established MK24 Studios in his South of Durban hometown in 2021 upon realisation that his passion for art and his talent with the paintbrush and canvas could be turned into a commercial venture.

An incubatee of the innobiz DUT Centre of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Karora opted to make the switch from Durban to Cape Town in 2024 with his sights set on expanding his operations nationwide and this move has clearly yielded success with his mantle piece now home to the latest gong in an increasingly growing list of success.

He is no stranger to standing on the winners’ podium, having also been a runner-up in the Best Stand Competition at the 25th annual Durban Business Fair in 2023 while he was also a finalist in the Youth Business of the Year category at the Durban Business Fair Excellence Awards 2023.

He has hailed innobiz for its significant influence on his entrepreneurial journey, which has seen being not just the beneficiary of tutelage and mentorship under the Centre’s intensive three-year programme and  its seed funding to boost his business, but quite significantly access to markets.

His business is divided into three departments, comprising of MK24 Studios focusing on arts related services including sneaker customisation, mural and canvas paintings while the secondary division of his company MK24 Clean and Restore which deals with the cleaning and restoration of shoes, couches, mattresses, and carpets and then MK24 Clothing which is a clothing apparel outlet.

The inspiration behind the company, particularly the cleaning and restoration business, was to service those clients who simply wanted to hang onto shoes and other items that they still loved and those whose items had a form of sentiment and did not want to part with them.  He has plans afoot to continue with the expansion of his business through the development of a website which will easily connect him with his existing client base and bring him closer to a new clientele.

“I’m planning to increase my online presence and to also have a physical store which would make it more convenient for customers to get hold of my services and products,” Karora said.

Maronga Karora is an artist whose canvas is as versatile as his talent. From sneakers and garments to portraits, he transforms blank spaces into enduring masterpieces and with his wings spreading across the country, there are no limits to the success that awaits him.

 “This is like a gift to me, so I decided to embark on doing something that I love, something that I’m good at because I thought it would be much simpler to do something that I love as it would be easier to grow and prosper,” Karora explains, with an inspiring parting shot.

Pictured: Maronga Karora

Samkelo Mtshali