Why can’t we support our own success story?

Wine woman entrepreneur Nondumiso Pikashe is struggling to place her wine, proudly titled Ses’fikile, on the stands of major liquor retailers.

Wine woman entrepreneur Nondumiso Pikashe is struggling to place her wine, proudly titled Ses’fikile, on the stands of major liquor retailers.

Published Dec 11, 2016

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Why is a black woman entrepreneur struggling to place her wine, proudly titled Ses’fikile, on the stands of major liquor retailers, asks Victor Kgomoeswana.

I live for the day when entrepreneurship in Africa will be more attractive than a job, political office or inheritance. Currently, our beautiful policies and infrastructure still leave entrepreneurs twisting in the wind.

South Africa is ranked among the top five African countries in at least three pillars of the inaugural Ashish J Thakkar Global Entrepreneurship Index.

It is also the fourth-best-placed African country, in 46th place out of the 85 countries, overall.

Why, I wondered earlier this week, is a black wine woman entrepreneur out of Gugulethu struggling fiercely to place her wine, proudly titled Ses’fikile, on the stands of major liquor retailers, more than 10 years after she relaunched?

It the same reason that has made the 1994 fairytale a nightmare for the majority of black South Africans. I was prompted to profile her on my radio show after reading a mixed bag of tweets at the weekend about the suitability or not of the name of her wine (which, incidentally means "We have arrived").

The callers to the radio show, similarly, were equally divided on whether Nondumiso Pikashe should have called her wine by some French or English name, instead of an African one, Ses’fikile.

One caller, who joined the talk show while driving in Rosebank, jocularly said: "I'm driving behind a Quantum taxi called Ses’fikile, right now, and I'm not sure that I want to drink it!"

He was among those opposed to a wine entering a market with a name not as "elegant" or as "refined" in the way wine drinkers supposedly are.

One listener even tweeted: "I'm not buying any wine with a name that sounds like an NGO!"

At issue was not whether the wine was good quality or not, but whether it would likely sell, unless it carries names such as (Fat Bastard? Four Cousins? I asked).

My disappointment was that South Africans, who were predominantly black, even wanted to talk about supporting one of their own or not.

I wondered if Nondumiso, a former teacher, would have struggled to place her wine at Pick n Pay, Makro or Tops or any other liquor outlet, if her product had been named Nous Sommes Arrivés Cinsault. However lame my translation of Ses’fikile to French might be, the latter name would have afforded Nondumiso’s offering a warmer reception.

Why? Because it sounds foreign; no, it sounds exotic.

That is us. We love everything alien, French, Italian, American; anything but African.

Other callers were more constructive in their criticism of the name. Still, they urged Nondumiso to try a more "compliant" name. She was not moved.

"The name is not going anywhere," she said in response, although "I appreciate and respect their views".

And why not? "We have arrived" is not the war cry of wimps or quitters.

It is in-your-face.

She still bemoans the rebuff by the owners of retail space who claim that "black brands do not sell".

Still, she is not about to give up.

While at it, some callers offered to buy the product as a gesture of pride in a black woman venturing on the road less travelled.

Others were self-proclaimed connoisseurs, who were willing to try the brand out and give feedback. We shall see about that.

In a country where about two-thirds of the unemployed are youth, African and coloured males are most at risk of being unemployed or turning to crime, and women are still facing so much violence from a family member, you would expect us to rally enthusiastically behind a black woman daring to accomplish what not many like her have tried.

Of the 27.2million hectolitres of wine consumed in France in 2015, according to the International Organisation of Vine and Wine, the bulk was produced locally.

It is shameful that in a country that is among the world’s top 15 wine producers, Ses’fikile has to justify its place on the menu of wine lovers, especially black ones.

Colonial roots indeed run deep.

* Kgomoeswana is author of Africa is Open for Business and hosts Power Hour from Monday to Thursday on Power FM. Twitter Handle: @VictorAfrica

** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.

The Sunday Independent

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