The camping guy wins big for his business

Tshireletso Mokate (36) walked away with the first prize of R1m for his innovative camping pitch in the Engen Pitch and Polish competition 2023.

After having a challenging time trying to convince his family to join in on a camping trip, Tshireletso came up with an innovative idea to make camping a pleasant experience.

What began as an idea to get his family to go camping with him, soon turned into a creative business for everyone to experience.

Originally from Rustenburg in the North West, Tshireletso is an information technology specialist by trade staying in Alberton with his wife and daughter. He delights in spending time with his family and being in the great outdoors.

What is Camping RetrEats?

Camping RetrEats is an award-winning camping service that started six years ago. In a successful attempt to convince his family to join him on a camping trip, he thought of a brilliant idea to take the chores out of camping by teaming up with a friend who is a chef, asking him to cook for them on the weekend.

When his family heard there would be fewer chores and a chef, they excitedly agreed to go camping with him.

Tshireletso took to social media posting videos and pictures of the camping trip, including the private chef and fun activities he did with his family. He received an immense response from his followers and decided to host another retreat.

The concept started as a way to introduce people to new places while trying out a range of new food with a different chef on each retreat. The concept grew and he has learned that consistency is very important.

Camping RetrEats now has a team of 19 staff members and its’ own mobile kitchen. Since its establishment, they have travelled the country seven times and have started exploring across the borders in countries such as Lesotho and Mozambique on next year’s itinerary.

“I think people love us because of the food we offer. The food and comprehensive camping make it unique,” highlighted Tshireletso.

The winning pitch

The passionate entrepreneur saw an advertisement for the competition and entered. “Initially I thought it was just a business pitch competition but after entering I soon realised it was more than that,” he explained.

Out of over 100 applications, 16 contestants were shortlisted and Tshireletso were among the privileged entrepreneurs.

He describes his time participating in the competition as a great experience. “We were each assigned a mentor. Their role and responsibility was to teach us while scrutinising every part of our business,” said Tshireletso.

The full progression of his participation took three months of learning, refining his pitch, compiling a deck with finance and understanding the business.

“The mentor assigning process is random but I was privileged enough to be assigned a mentor who is an accountant, which is exactly what I needed. I never had a mentor before and it felt good to have one who understood and taught me about the numbers side of my business. I learnt a lot from the mentor and it made me realise the importance of having a mentor, especially in business,” emphasized Tshireletso.

The process also involved going for training every day of the week from 07:30 to 17:30.

“I did not anticipate winning because the competition was tough with many amazing business ideas.”
He started to get nervous as the competition began to draw to an end but was grateful that his pitch won.

Triumphing over the hurdles

The biggest challenge Tshireletso faced was shying away from the numbers because he had never sat down and looked at the company’s numbers and looked at ways to save money.

He was mostly afraid to find flaws in the business or find out the company was over-committed or undercharged.
Another challenge he faced was understanding the numbers of the business.

“No matter how scary it is to get into the numbers, I am actively working on it to ensure the success of the company and happy customers,” said Tshireletso.

Plans for the R1m

Tshireletso intends to buy a second truck which is a great need for the business. He will also open a manufacturing centre where tents will be manufactured and other camping equipment.

Additionally, the Camping RetrEats website will be upgraded and a customer relationship management (CRM) system will be implemented. And lastly, they will be introducing a new package called premium deluxe, which includes a luxury camping experience and camping equipment such as a shower, toilet and bedding.

For the future of his personal development and business advancement, Tshireletso wants to be less operational and move into a more senior role.

He wants to be in a position where he can work on the business instead of in the business to make critical decisions and build relationships.