Sinelizwi Fakade is smart, not because of his master’s degree in agriculture, but rather because of how he gets things done. Working for Grain SA in the Eastern Cape, he grew the number of farmers he was helping from just a few hundred to 3 500 who were planting 3000ha of maize – in just three years! But Sinelizwi Fakade wanted to be the one doing the farming. So he went to visit his old friend and mentor, the legendary farmer Rob Farrington, who agreed to help. And the rest, as the saying goes, is history. Today, with the help of his brother, mother and tough Afrikaner farm manager, Sinelizwi plants almost 1 000ha of crops.