Life is anything but bland
for former barista Everlasting Mbedzi.
How can it be when the past
two months have seen him transition from a cool coffee guy about town to a successful
sales executive in the motoring sector?
It’s been some journey for Mbedzi
– literally and figuratively. He grew up in Limpopo before leaving his old life
behind in 2015 in search of a better future in Gqeberha.
He was at a loose end when he
arrived in the city but little did he know how his life would change when he first
caught wind of a barista academy at Father’s House in North End.
That is where he was
introduced to the enchanting world of coffee and all its fascinating flavours,
quirks and mysteries.
At the academy he received a
veritable PhD in beans and teas as he unearthed the secrets to the finest lattes,
Americanos, cappuccinos and macchiatos – not forgetting all the other “atos” and
“anos” out there.
Armed with this knowledge,
he strutted into Nelson Mandela’s Bay’s vibrant coffee scene with a plan and landed
a job at a major java franchise with the minimum of fuss.
He plied his trade at
several branches of the chain, particularly enjoying the people he met along
the way. One of those was Warren Gould, the dealer principal at Kelston Chery
in Gqeberha.
A regular at the coffee outlet,
Gould enjoyed interacting with the personable barista who knew his order back
to front.
But, where others saw a friendly
face delivering coffees and one-liners with equal aplomb, the DP noticed skills
and attributes that he believed could translate into vehicle sales – an
engaging personality and a drive for service excellence.
And so it happened, while
collecting his standing order from his favourite barista one day, that he
alerted him to a vacancy in the new-vehicle sales division at his dealership.
Mbedzi clearly had no
experience in this field, but he also knew such opportunities did not come
along often. In coffee parlance, one wouldn’t pour a complimentary flat white
down the drain, would you?
In March 2021, he began his
schooling through Kelston’s cadet training programme. Here he was taught different
sales techniques, models, vehicle specs and all the other “s”-suffixes that it
takes to make it in the industry.
“It was a very big step;
such a different world from coffee. I didn’t know anything about cars,” Mbedzi
admitted.
Luckily, he was an
exceptionally fast learner. He aced his learnership and started selling on Chery’s
showroom floor within six months.
He was understandably “very
nervous” on his first day but, as time went by and he started turning meet
cutes into sales, so the jitters fell away.
Now he struggles to recall
exactly how many cars he has moved. All he knows is that it is “a lot”.
The 36-year-old father to a 19-month-old
daughter paid tribute to Gould for spotting something in him and giving him a
chance despite his obvious shortcomings.
To this day Gould continued
to guide him, he said.
“I never saw this new life
coming. I love it even though it’s hard work. I’m learning every day.”
It also helps that Mbedzi
has “a lot of confidence in this brand”.
But would he like to follow
in the footsteps of his mentor?
“No, there is a lot of work
there,” he laughed. “Maybe one day. You never know.
