For Janneman van der Merwe, entrepreneurship did not begin with a business plan or a pitch deck. It started with a simple birthday gift, an old-school R2 gumball machine his father gave him while he was still in primary school.
That small machine sparked a fascination with business that has shaped his career ever since. After saving enough money to purchase a traditional snack and beverage vending machine, Janneman steadily expanded his operations, managing more machines and learning the industry from the ground up.
Today, he is the founder of Innovative Vending Solutions and VendBot, businesses that have grown into leading providers of vending solutions across South Africa.
Building a business in Stellenbosch
Janneman’s entrepreneurial journey has deep roots in Stellenbosch. Having completed both high school and university in the town, he credits the local innovation ecosystem with helping turn his ambitions into reality.
A significant milestone came when he won his category in Stellenbosch University (SU) LaunchLab’s IdeaSmash competition, earning office space at the SU LaunchLab. What started as a single entrepreneur working from the incubator has since grown into a team that continues to call LaunchLab home.
“The LaunchLab has been such a great environment for encouraging entrepreneurship,” he says. “We’re very grateful to the LaunchLab team for being so supportive.”
Although he spent two years working in finance after university, he recognised the potential within the vending industry and made the decision to commit to it full-time. “I always wanted to do business from a young age,” he says.
Solving problems others could not
Growing the business was far from straightforward. Janneman explains that vending is a highly specialised industry where technical expertise is often difficult to find.
Rather than allowing this to slow their progress, the team invested in learning everything themselves. “We brute-forced the problems,” he explains. “We asked a lot of people, completed electrical courses, did cooling courses, and solved the problems one by one.”
That willingness to continuously learn has become one of the company’s greatest competitive advantages, allowing them to support vending operators across South Africa with specialised technical knowledge that is not readily available elsewhere.
Like many entrepreneurs, financing has also been a constant challenge. Instead of relying on large investments, the company has largely grown through bootstrapping, carefully reinvesting earnings back into the business while using creative financing strategies to fund expansion.
Driving innovation in unattended retail
Innovation remains central to the company’s growth. One of its latest milestones is a partnership with Moneybadger to launch Africa’s first crypto-enabled vending machine, bringing cryptocurrency payments into the unattended retail space.
The team has also designed and developed custom vending machines for internationally recognised brands, including Crocs, Nike and Adidas, demonstrating how vending technology can be adapted far beyond traditional snack and beverage machines.
Looking ahead, Janneman is particularly excited about the launch of VendBot’s locally developed payment platform for unattended retail, created in collaboration with AddPay.
These developments reflect the company’s broader vision of modernising vending technology and expanding the possibilities of automated retail across the continent.
Success comes from execution
When asked what advice he would offer aspiring entrepreneurs, Janneman keeps it simple. “The best way to learn is by doing. Get your hands dirty and put in the reps.” For him, entrepreneurship is not about waiting for the perfect idea but about consistently taking action. “Plain execution beats fancy ideas any day of the year.”
It is a philosophy that has guided him from a single R2 gumball machine to building one of South Africa’s leading vending technology businesses—proving that with curiosity and a willingness to learn, even the smallest beginnings can grow into something extraordinary.
