Gwen Maditse recently interviewed Cinzia Piccini, who left the corporate world to embrace her entrepreneurial spirit and start her own deli. Cinzia’s story is one of courage, determination and ultimately success. In the first of four parts, we share with you how Cinzia realised her dream, and some of the challenges she faced in the start-up phases of owning her own business.

Cinzia started Deli-C five years ago, on 28 August 2005. Prior to that, she worked in the pharmaceutical industry for 17 years during which time she gained experience in the clinical arena, administration, sales and marketing. Thereafter, she went on to manage a business unit for a nutritional company.

Cinzia always aspired to being an entrepreneur. She was particularly keen to get into the food industry, having a passion for cooking and experimenting with new recipes. The opportunity presented itself when the company she worked for decided not to pursue their business in South Africa and Cinzia was given a severance package. At this point, Cinzia decided that her days in the corporate world were over. She took that leap of faith and pursued her dream of opening up her own business.

The most daunting thing about stepping out of the corporate world with its stable income to start her own business was the fact that Cinzia knew nothing about the food industry. The food industry is multi-faceted: it involves dealing with the public, staff, and also managing your own finances. Managing all of these aspects proved challenging. Cinzia rose to the challenge and all the hard work it presented.

Cinzia started by putting a business plan together. Drawing on the experience she had gained in management, she also drew up a profit and loss statement. However, she had no idea of the number of feet that were going to come through her store, what her grocery bill was going to be like, or what her usage and wastage would be. It was very difficult in the beginning but as time went by she modified her operations and fine-tuned her business plan.

Cinzia had no support structure or mentor in terms of running the business or getting it started. With the help of her sister, Michela, who keeps the books, and with whom she has a very close relationship, she started Deli-C. Cinzia attributes the success of Deli-C to a cohesive family unit.

Together, the sisters have nurtured the business and managed the finances. Both ladies have strong characters and different approaches, and they had their challenges and differences of opinion at times. Cinzia would want to invest or expand the business, whilst Michela, having a more practical approach to bringing operations and financing together, would caution about finances and recommend a more conservative approach. Looking back, Cinzia doesn’t regret having taken Michela’s advice.

Her relationship with Michela helped Cinzia to see a different point of view instead of making decisions in a vacuum, and that has proven beneficial.

To be continued...

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