About the Building Business Series
This story forms part of a series featuring the 22 entrepreneurs who participated in the 2025 Ranyaka Building Business (RBB) programme in Polokwane, Limpopo, and their journeys towards building stronger, more sustainable businesses.
RBB forms part of the overarching Nedbank Proud of My Town (PoMT) initiative, which is implemented nationally by Ranyaka. Nedbank’s total investment of R320,500 (amounting to just over R14,500 per entrepreneur) covered practical business training, compliance support, branding guidance, professional photography and pitching development, helping participants strengthen and formalise their businesses. Graduates also participated in Nedbank-led financial literacy sessions.
Building Business is one of ten programmes implemented through Ranyaka’s THRIVE model, which works to build thriving local economies and resilient communities by connecting entrepreneurs to networks, markets, opportunities and long-term support systems.
Today, we share the story of Nobesuthu “Nobza” Ramukhotheli from Resta Solutions.
When Purpose Becomes Louder Than Comfort
“When purpose becomes louder than comfort, you stop negotiating and you start building.”
In the world of social impact, passion is abundant, but systems are not. And somewhere between heart and paperwork, many community organisations struggle to survive. Nobesuthu “Nobza” Ramukhotheli understands this tension well. This understanding ultimately led to the creation of Resta Solutions.
‘We solve, so our clients can rest’
At the heart of Resta Solutions’ service offering lies its support of non-profits, foundations, corporates with CSI programmes, and government capacity-building initiatives, helping them navigate registration, governance, compliance, reporting, and resource mobilisation.
The journey began long before Resta Solutions was a registered business, when Nobesuthu was helping organisations fix constitutions, deal with compliance, and prepare reports. She saw founders pouring themselves into feeding schemes, youth programmes, and shelters — yet losing funding because their governance structures were weak or their reporting incomplete.
“I saw incredible organisations doing life-changing work, but missing funding because they were not compliant or funder-ready.”
Building Business, Building Confidence
For Nobesuthu, the timing of her participation in the RBB programme was divine.
“The programme came at the right time. I had just launched, and I was clueless about running a formal business.” Nobesuthu shares how seeing her business mapped onto a one-page canvas was transformational. “I thought I needed a ten-page profile to explain my business. The canvas changed how I see strategy.”
For Nobesuthu, specific highlights of the RBB programme included learning how to refine her costing, strengthen compliance with SARS and CIPC, clarify her value proposition, and position her services professionally. As part of the journey to support businesses in gaining visibility, graduates also received professional photo sessions. (The photos in this blog post are the result of one of these sessions!)
The graduation event itself was so much more than a ceremony. For Nobesuthu, it was truly affirmation. She was not building in isolation. She was becoming part of a growing network of enterprises strengthening Polokwane’s local economy.
How it All Started – Comfort over Purpose
Born in Bhisho in the Eastern Cape, Nobesuthu grew up shaped by a grandmother deeply rooted in prayer and community service. Leadership, for her, was never about position. It was about presence. Her life took a defining turn after surviving rape — an experience that later led her to found Thy Rest Ekuphumleni Restoration Home and Victim Empowerment, supporting survivors of gender-based violence.
“I wanted to be a listening ear to victims who were silenced after trauma. I wanted to be hope when hope feels impossible.”
For 21 years, Nobesuthu built a respected career in government, rising to become a senior government official. The salary was stable, the title was secure, the future was predictable, but purpose kept knocking. In 2020, she resigned from a position where she was earning a great salary to focus on community work that paid significantly less.
“I left a job that paid me well to do work that feeds my soul. The income dropped, but the peace increased.”
It was a decision rooted in conviction, and one that laid the foundation for entrepreneurship. Starting a business, especially one built from years of free service, came with its own lessons. One of the hardest transitions was learning to charge. After hesitantly pricing an organisational profile at R2,500, she braced for resistance. Instead, the client paid immediately. “That moment taught me that people who know your value will never question your price,” says Nobesuthu.
The 2:30am Discipline
Behind the calm confidence is relentless discipline.
Nobesuthu’s day begins at 2:30am. By 3am she is leading a WhatsApp prayer group. By 6am she is preparing her six-year-old for school. Coffee in hand, she transitions into meetings, client consultations, and compliance reviews, all from a home office that doubles as command centre.
She juggles entrepreneurship, motherhood, ministry, and leadership of her non-profit. Evenings belong to family. Sometimes work resumes once the house is quiet.
“There is no typical day. There is only purpose in motion.”
Strengthening the Hands That Strengthen Communities
Resta Solutions operates at a critical intersection: between community passion and formal funding systems. Many grassroots organisations carry social energy but lack structured systems. Corporates and funders hold capital but require compliance, reporting and measurable outcomes. Resta Solutions bridges that gap, translating community impact into a funder-ready structure.
Nobesuthu’s long-term vision is bold. She aims to manage large corporate CSI programmes and eventually establish an accredited training centre to capacitate non-profits at scale.
Her work reflects a deeper shift in how local economies are strengthened. When compliance, governance and reporting capacity improve at the grassroots level, community organisations become more fundable, more stable and more sustainable. Formal capital begins to flow more confidently into places that need it most.
In this way, Resta Solutions does more than provide a service. It strengthens the bridge between informal community action and formal institutional support, helping local impact initiatives move from vulnerability toward resilience.
And when the hands that strengthen communities are themselves strengthened, the entire local ecosystem becomes more stable.
Ranyaka is the national implementation agent for the Nedbank Proud of My Town initiative. The Ranyaka Building Business programme focuses on enterprise development and is one of 10 programmes that Ranyaka is implementing in communities across South Africa. Read more about Ranyaka’s 10 programmes here.
Photographer: Kenanyah Films Photography