DURBAN - Lata Ngoasheng is a young black entrepreneur who went from graphic design and marketing to owning his own wine company.
Ngoasheng has a fine taste in wine and has even become a wine connoisseur. But it was after the birth of his son that he turned his hobby into a business.
He started the wine company and named it after his son, Leano Ngoasheng as a way to create a legacy for him. Ngoasheng seeks to change the narrative of both ownership and fatherhood in South Africa.
LN Wines is a premium brand that hosts two types of wine in its catalogue, Merlot with a maturing potential of up to 8-10 years and Sauvignon Blanc. These are some of the finest wine choices, fine enough to tickle any connoisseur’s fancy.
Ngoasheng is the first born of three children and was raised by a single mother after his dad passed when he and his siblings were young . Being the first and only son, he had to take on a lot of responsibilities at a young age. "I was lucky to be surrounded by very great and strong women, my mother and two beautiful sisters Mosima and Karabo are the foundations of my childhood.," said Ngoasheng.
"My mother always did her best to give us the best life, there is no time our lives I can remember where she did not have at least more than 3 businesses at a time" said Ngoasheng. He calls this his introduction to the principle of business and work ethics.
According to Ngoasheng, the wine venture was never supposed to be a business. He said, "Wine has always been something I enjoyed and developed a passion for it beyond just drinking it. I have been a collector for some time now and when my son Leano got born I wanted to introduce him to my friends and family in a special way and used wine to do just that".
The first LN wines were off the shelf bottles and were used to announce the birth of his son with professionally designed labels. The entrepreneur said, "They looked so amazing that I always made sure I had them at home because they made for great gifts".
Ngoasheng's friend had encouraged him to go commercial and look into having his own range of wines. "Through my connections and networks from collecting wines I started doing my research and found a very good world class and award winning estate called Fort Simon that bought into my vision for LN Wines," said Ngoasheng.
The estate bought into his vision for LN Wines. Fast forward to the present day and he now has his own range of wines.
His goal is to do what he does best and make not only himself proud, but also inspire those that think of him as a mentor. "All I really want is to leave a legacy for my children and my family," said Ngoasheng.
To date, LN Wines is a growing brand that many have come to support and enjoy. In the spirit of celebrating every moment, I would love to believe that I'm truly a visionary with passion for business, opportunity and leadership
According to Ngoasheng, one of his proud moments was when he first walked into a restaurant and found LN Wines on tables and people enjoying themselves.
Currently, LN Wines has two wines on the market including a beautiful well balanced 2017 Merlot and a fine 2018 Sauvignon Blanc.