Retired at 65 from his job - Back at work in his own business

Why two- and three-wheeler mobility is becoming the backbone of South Africa's microbusiness economy

At 65, Dave Dawson was told it was time to stop working. After years as the head of maintenance at a large bakery, retirement at 65 was non-negotiable company policy. However, for Dave, slowing down was another matter entirely.

Today he owns and operates The Little Red Donkey, a door-to-door shuttle and delivery service in Mtwalume, a small seaside village on KwaZulu-Natal's South Coast. His vehicle is a bright red TVS King Duramax Plus 3-wheeler - one of the first TVS three-wheelers Mtwalume has ever seen, but locals now know it well and the sound of it pulling up at their gate.

Dave's business is small - a microbusiness - but the lesson behind it is not. Across South Africa, people shut out of formal employment are building their own income. For many of them, the deciding factor is simple: can they get themselves, their stock or their services to where their customers are?

Mtwalume lies about 87 km south of Durban. There are no shopping centres, no fast-food chains and no busy promenade. Life is unhurried and revolves around the sea. Permanent residents share the village with holidaymakers, and a large part of the community is retired. It is the kind of place people choose for a digital detox. That quiet also comes with a catch. For a big grocery shop or a doctor's appointment, residents have to get to Hibberdene, Scottburgh or Port Shepstone. If, like many retirees, you no longer drive, or would rather not, even a trip to friends down the road takes planning.

“For many locals, a convenient, hassle-free door-to-door shuttle ride is their lifeline to the world and to their social life,” says Dave. “They want to do their shopping, visit friends, go to the beach or pop in at the local. Many retirees can’t or don’t want to drive themselves. But they also don’t want the risk of an unknown or impersonal taxi service,” explains Dave. Today, his passengers and customers are his neighbours. They know his name, his vehicle and his smile.

“The Little Red Donkey was conceived as a local business, deeply rooted in serving the Mtwalume community,” he says. “It serves a real need and it has taken off, while providing me with a steady, sustainable income at a time when I was simply not ready or able to retire. I’m already looking at investing in my next TVS 3-wheeler to keep up with demand.”

In addition to shuttling passengers around, Dave started an online store that delivers fresh produce and artisanal food from local producers straight to customers’ doors - cheeses, free-range eggs and handmade sweets and confectionary. The same 3-wheeler that takes a couple to the beach in the morning is dropping off groceries in the afternoon.

Mobility is often the missing link for small business

For many South Africans, the route to income runs through self-employment and a business idea. Yet plenty of good ideas fail early. Often the reason is that the operator cannot move safely, carry enough stock or keep transport costs, including ownership under control.

TVS Motor Company believes this is where purpose-built 2- and 3-wheelers earn their keep. The vehicle is less a mode of transport, and more a business tool. The ‘Little Red Donkey’ is just one example. A mobile coffee seller is another. Rent and long leases are often the biggest barrier to opening a coffee shop. Mount a compact coffee set-up in the cargo bay and the 3-wheeler vehicle becomes the shopfront. The operator can follow the crowds, from the early commuter rush at a taxi rank to office parks mid-morning and school gates in the afternoon. For an independent plumber, electrician or appliance repairer, the problem is different. There is often enough work. The bottleneck is getting tools, spares and to several jobs in a day. A 3-wheeler set up as a workshop on wheels directly increases billable hours.

When mobility works, small business works

Robin van Rensburg, Managing Director of The Nexus Collective, under Bidvest Group Limited, the sole distributor of TVS Motor Company in South Africa, adds that local demand is being shaped by income-linked mobility that is seeing delivery and micro-entrepreneurship ecosystems expanding the use-case for two- and three-wheelers as productive assets; and affordability, where both small business owners and fleet owners are prioritising total cost of ownership, uptime, and service responsiveness,” explains Robin.

South Africa’s labour context also reinforces the mobility shift. “In a country with persistently high unemployment, motorbikes can serve as practical enablers of economic participation for independent contractors and small operators – from commercial delivery, township and urban micro-logistics and last-mile commutes to entrepreneurship-led mobility use cases. When mobility becomes more accessible and affordable, it unlocks business formation, income generation, and inclusive growth,” he says. 

The TVS King Duramax Plus 3-wheeler is a safe and sturdy solution, with higher load capacity, for the likes of mobile food/beverage stations, on-site repair and maintenance services, mobile retail delivery, and last-mile passenger service businesses that require low operating costs, high reliability, safety and efficient daily mobility. 

“Entrepreneurship is about momentum. When people can move their goods, tools and services efficiently, they can earn more consistently. That is the real value of purpose-built three-wheel mobility. Across mobile vending, technical services and last-mile delivery, the same pattern is emerging. When mobility works, small businesses work. And when small businesses work, lives improve and local economies grow,” concludes Robin.

Back in Mtwalume, Dave is thinking about his next TVS King Duramax Plus vehicle, his growing customer list and the neighbours who now get to the shops, the beach and each other’s front doors without a second thought.

For a man who was told to retire, he has never been busier.

For more information, visit https://tvs-sa.co.za/