TROMPIES member Jakarumba has ventured into a new business.
The musician, whose real name is Jairus Nkwe, launched a water brand called Jakarumba Alkaline Water.
He joined forces with his long-time friend Themba “Fizzy” Sithole.
They both spoke to Daily Sun about why they ventured into this business together.
Jakarumba said it was only natural for him to start a water brand because it’s part of his everyday life.
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“What inspired me to start this was that I’m a person who always drinks water. I’m in the music business and I’ve been at it for 30 years. We’re always on the road. We’re partying, gigging and there’s alcohol all the time.
“When you wake up in the morning, you’re tired and hangover. And water helped me through that,” he said.
The musician said Fizzy saw how much he loved water and thought it would be great for him to get into that business.
“I’d tell him water works as a detox for me. He then told me he knew people who have a water plant and said he thinks they would be happy to work with me, and maybe they can endorse me,” said Jakarumba.
“I thought he was joking, and he made it happen. I met the people from Lavendus Water, and I thought it was perfect and they wanted to work with me,” he said.
Jakarumba said business is booming.
“I met these people before Covid-19 hit and it was hard during that time because we were at home. We couldn’t get deals with stores. But things have got so much better now. The water recently got sold out at Makro. It’s also available at Takealot and Boxer stores,” said the musician.
Jakarumba said they also do charity work through all the bottles that are sold.
“We go to different rural areas and help families. Lavendus Water identifies the families. Last year, we were at a school in Polokwane and helped learners out,” he said.
Fizzy said he and Jakarumba have been wanting to get into business for a long time.
"I met him through the late Senyaka and we’ve been friends ever since. In 2019, I produced his show at the Joburg Theatre, a musical. And we realised we could work together, so we had an idea to get into business together but we didn’t know what to get into. We finally did this and we’re happy,” he said.
He said they were working on getting the water to other stores.
“I own shopping centres and through that, I have some business connections that make this journey a big easy. We’ve spoken to Shoprite and soon it'll be available there,” said Fizzy.
