In a region where proximity to the ocean doesn’t always translate to access or affordability, Eastern Cape entrepreneur Lutho Zozo is building a business that redefines how local consumers connect with local resources. At the Innovator Trust’s 2025 Enterprise Development Graduation, held on 3 June at Vodacom World, Zozo was awarded Top Business Presentation: Eastern Cape for her pitch and strategy behind Bay to Table Seafood — a growing enterprise that connects small-scale seafood suppliers to inland markets.
Zozo, who is based in Baziya, Mthatha, developed the concept after noticing a recurring contradiction in her province: communities situated near the coastline were still paying premium prices for basic seafood products — or didn’t have access to them at all. “Since we’re in the Eastern Cape and close to the coastal regions, you would assume that seafood is affordable and accessible,” she said. “But that’s not the case. I’ve seen oysters go for R50 in town, while people just a few kilometres away are unemployed and trying to sell seafood with no market support.”
Her idea is simple but powerful: use existing, often overlooked local supply — smallholder fishers, seafood harvesters, and informal traders — and develop a structured distribution channel that brings that produce to inland towns. “That’s when I saw a gap,” she explained. “I saw an opportunity to bridge that divide from bay to table. To work with local producers and help create some form of economic development.”
Zozo joined the Innovator Trust’s Youth Entrepreneurship Programme (YEP) through the Lindamahle Innovation Centre, a community-based platform in her region. “It was open to anyone interested,” she said. “We had a lot of offers come through the programme, and with Innovator Trust, we were able to learn a lot.”
She emphasised that the experience wasn’t just about developing a pitch — it was also about self-development. “They came through for a skills training where we learned the importance of emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and how to handle yourself when presenting,” Zozo said. “They taught us how to talk to people, how to sell your idea — and sell yourself.”
Although she describes herself as a natural talker, Zozo says the programme gave her practical tools to channel that strength into business. “I didn’t know how to present professionally,” she said. “I like talking, but I didn’t know how to use that to put money in my pocket. They taught us how to take those skills and actually apply them in our daily lives.”
Bay to Table Seafood is still in its early phases, but the foundation is clear: a local-first, demand-responsive business that places value on community infrastructure and builds a direct link between rural producers and township consumers. What sets Zozo apart is her ability to treat informality as an opportunity rather than a limitation — an approach that impressed adjudicators at the Innovator Trust graduation.
The Innovator Trust, founded by Vodacom, is known for providing incubation, enterprise development, and skills support to black-owned SMMEs in the ICT and adjacent sectors. Its YEP programme is designed to nurture early-stage entrepreneurs with high-impact potential, particularly in underserved provinces and sectors.
Zozo’s vision speaks to a broader shift in how South African entrepreneurship is being defined — no longer limited to tech or urban-based innovation, but instead grounded in real-world utility, regional insight, and self-taught strategy.
Her next move involves structuring operations, building a local distribution network, and creating access points for consumers who have traditionally been priced out of the seafood market. “This is about access and about building systems that actually work for the people around us,” she said. “We shouldn’t be paying luxury prices for what’s already in our backyard.”
Zozo represents a new generation of rural entrepreneurs who aren’t waiting for formal markets to catch up — they’re designing alternatives. With no inherited networks or capital reserves, she’s building from observation, instinct, and the confidence that was sharpened through a programme that saw her potential and helped shape it.
In a sector that often overlooks informal food chains and underestimates rural capability, Bay to Table Seafood offers more than product delivery. It is a business model rooted in rebalancing local economies — one oyster at a time.
