Like every child with a sweet tooth, little George Magapa loved ice cream.
Curious to know exactly how the delicacy in a cone was made led the Mahalapye native to eventually establish his own ice cream making company.
With inspiration from his parents and his brother, who’s a professional chef, Magapa founded SOGO, an Ice Cream and Dairy brand in May 2023.
The creamery started with three custom flavours with various toppings and added ingredients sold in kraft paper tubs of 180ml, 250ml and 350ml.
The top-selling flavours include ‘Kgale View Sunsets’, a caramel with salted caramel sauce, and ‘Gaborone Sunshine’, which is vanilla and Oreo cookies.
In an interview with Voice Money on Monday, Magapa explained his company is an urban culture focused group that blends quality taste with entertainment.
He said the acronym SOGO was inspired by the reactions of customers after every scoop of their product.
“Everyone kept saying ‘It’s so good’ hence the name SOGO (So Good),” he chuckled.
“We’ve made it very clear that SOGO is a luxury brand associated with high end events, hence our partnership with international liquor brands like Jagermeister,” he said, adding other exciting unions include partnerships with the annual horse race, Gabz July and Pretoria based fashion brand, Ben Luc which is popular with the Gauteng Province youth.
Magapa said this bold and deliberate decision allows them to stay in touch with the urban celebrity culture.
Staying true to their image, SOGO was recently invited by Sony Music Africa for the private screening of the late South African hip hop icon AKA’s sophomore album ‘Levels’ documentary on 27th June.
“It was the documentary’s premier where we contributed a custom AKA-Level SX Chest Freezer, custom tubs with three custom flavours made for the night,” he said.
The event at Ster-Kinekor Cinema in Sandton was graced by top celebrities such as DJ Zinhle, Nadia Nakai, Zaz, Pearl Thusi, AKA’s parents, daughter Kairo and AKA’s former DJ, Don Design.
“It was the highlight of the night to serve AKA’s parents and showing them our tribute to their late son. It was a star studded private event that we will never forget. Luckily for us it is now available on YouTube,” revealed Magapa.
The founder of SOGO, who describes himself as a creative director and brand developer, is not a new comer to business. He’s the founder of Daily Water, The Supply Magazine which featured the likes of the late Sasa Klaas and SA rapper Flvme.
This mover and shaker is also a seasoned rapper going by the name George Staggz famous for his high budget music videos where’s he’s often seen driving expensive wheels like Lamborghini.
“I also manage a few artists like Ab The Activist, G-Fuego and I’m a part of the creative team of stars such as Flvme ,The Big Hash and Focalistic all from South Africa,” he said.
With SOGO ice cream now available at Boba Milk Tea store in Game City Magapa says they’ll soon announce a second spot for their tasty treats.
He admitted that despite their early success in the business, they’ve also encountered challenges in getting the buy-in from potential clients, especially as they were introducing something different in the country.
“Other than the usual financial frustrations, the company has been steadily building its brand network, as we highly believe in collaborating with other brands to bring a sweet experience to their existing and potential clients. We are open to working with private companies and government as a dessert partner,” said Magapa.
He further noted while bookings, especially locally, have been slow to come, mainly due to lack of marketing and adverting budget, they remain positive their brand will be well received by Batswana as they continue to expand to other establishments.
“To any business that would love custom ice cream and custom branded tubs for events, including weddings, we are ready to design a unique flavor for you, including alcoholic ice cream as we have done one before for Jagermeister Botswana,” was Magapa’s parting shot.
SOGO currently has an ongoing promotion for its customers, who stand a chance to win P200 cash with every purchase they make, P100 electricity voucher or P200 cash to an In-Drive voucher.
“The company intends to have fun with every sale. More vouchers including for groceries will be announced soon,” he said.
