Johannesburg - It is tough to run a business in South Africa.
With continuous rounds of load shedding, governmental and corporate corruption, the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, floods, as well as the excessively high price of doing business, the nation’s entrepreneurs are constantly facing challenges in order to survive.
The social unrest which played out in July 2021 has also wreaked havoc on businesses across the country, even 18 months after it all began.
The riots and widespread looting, a culmination of many years of political unrest, lack of service delivery and an increasingly demoralised, unemployed youthful population, resulted in thousands of South African entrepreneurs and township-based small business owners being subjected to unprecedented levels of looting and violence.
The devastating reverberations of the July riots was that many South Africans who had fought for years to overcome poverty, crime and inequality by starting their own businesses found their life’s work and livelihood destroyed overnight by members of their own community.
In a bid to rebuild their enterprises, many entrepreneurs survived by adapting, becoming innovative and reaching out for help.
These resilient business owners turned disaster into opportunity, rose above adversity and inspired a fragile nation to rebuild and restore.
In a bid to provide support to these unsung heroes, three local non-profit, community-based organisations and social enterprises launched the #RevivingTownshipEconomies (#RTE) initiative.
The project launched by Afrika Tikkun Foundation, Rhiza Babuyile and Township Fleva, is the brainchild of social entrepreneur and philanthropist, Alef Meulenberg.
“The aim of the initiative is to help small township and rural-based businesses rise from the ashes, forging a path of resilience and innovation that will leave a legacy in the local economies of affected townships in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and Gauteng,” he said.
All of this is detailed in Meulenberg first book, “The Overcomers”, which provides a comprehensive account of how 10 entrepreneurs persevered in the aftermath of a global pandemic and survived both the July 2021 riots that ravaged KZN and Gauteng, and annihilating floods, with the help of the #RTE initiative.
“The initiative has helped save over 5 000 jobs and more than 1 400 small businesses, assisting these township and rural based entrepreneurs with grant funding, mentorship, coaching and training, so that they could go back to what they do best –running their businesses and creating jobs in the process,” he said.
To compile the content for his book, Meulenberg travelled into the heart of townships like Alexandra in Johannesburg and the deep rural settings of KZN to visit, follow and tell the stories of the entrepreneurs, each of them telling of an unbreakable spirit pushing against the odds.
“Through the wealth of wisdom gained in the process of rescuing these businesses, we can usher in a new era of a youth that believes in the power of entrepreneurship and how it can work for the South African economy.”
A social entrepreneur at heart, Meulenberg began to develop his passion for education after finishing his first degree at the age of 18. Since then, he has been the founder of two businesses, two non-profit organisations, a B-BBEE trust, serves on numerous boards relating to impact-driven organisations, and has started many projects, including the RTE project that inspired his book.
He explained that “The Overcomers” offers first-hand entrepreneurship insights using the stories of these 10 savvy business leaders as case studies for business strategies such as managing risk and leveraging youth and innovation to beat the odds.
And as an impact investor whose passion is encouraging entrepreneurship that builds communities, Meulenberg believes the stories behind the #RTE initiative exemplify the vision he has for all communities in South Africa.
“Readers can learn how to be a ‘Go-Getter' like Zinhle Maphanga and a ‘Risk-Taker’ like Lance Ross, the butcher who doubled down on his dream after losing everything and taking the leap from employee to owner once more.
“Some stories may bring you to tears, while others will make you chuckle, but they are all uniquely inspired tales of ordinary South Africans showcasing the extraordinary mind of an entrepreneur.”
Here are the stories of some of the South African entrepreneurs who feature in Meulenberg’s “The Overcomers” and who were part of the #RTE initiative.
Gift Sedibeng
Age: 30
Also known as: The Mexikasi
Business name: Siga Culinary6
Business type: Mexican restaurant
Location: Alexandra township, Johannesburg
Superpower: Innovation
This 30-year-old chef-turned entrepreneur began his career with hardship, rejection and disappointment when he did not get into the hospitality courses he applied for after matric. He then pivoted to safer career options, enrolling in an IT course, which he soon dropped out of in 2010.
But two years later, Sedibeng approached his father, who at the time ran several small enterprises including a funeral parlour and a taxi business, for some help pursuing his true passion in the culinary arts. He was accepted to culinary school in the USA, where he learned how to cook authentic Mexican cuisine.
Despite being born and raised in Alexandra, Johannesburg, Sedibeng craved international experience in his career, which would give him an edge over other budding chefs. He used his unique cooking style and his training at a Mexican culinary school in Texas in the US to compile a menu that fused exotic flavours with proudly local ones.
The Alexandra entrepreneur refers to his cooking style as “Mexikasi”, and before the pandemic and the riots of July 2021, his township-style Mexican fusion restaurant at the heart of Alex was thriving.
To survive the obstacles, Sedibeng was forced to think outside the box and was among the first wave of food businesses which made the switch to food delivery service. But when looters nearly collapsed the entire enterprise, stealing valuable equipment and stock, he was devastated to discover the business he had built using his life savings and his family legacy, a former spaza shop which he turned into a restaurant, was all on the brink of collapse.
It was the strength and uniqueness of his brand that made the uphill task of rebuilding and recovering a worthy investment.
“From Gift, we learn that creativity, flexibility and believing in the vision of your brand can make the difference between weathering the storms of economic instability and becoming another statistic in the volatile restaurant industry,” Meulenberg said.
Zinhle Maphanga
Age: 34
Also known as: The Go-Getter
Business name: Zinhle’s All Things Sweet
Kind of business: Sweets, Retail
Location: uMlazi, Durban
Superpower: Assertiveness
In Meulenberg’s book, he explains that Maphanga had always had an entrepreneurial spirit, from her humble beginnings in rural KZN selling sweets in the street to owning her own specialist candy shop.
And not only did Maphanga's business survive Covid-19 and the July 2021 riots, it has also recently weathered the April 2022 floods in KZN.
She was no stranger to working under pressure and as a former domestic worker, Maphanga always reached for new heights even when the future was uncertain.
“Because her business has a niche that sees her providing for a demand few others are servicing, and she refuses to be defeated, she has been able to revive her business from ruins numerous times,” Meulenberg says in his book.
After buying a significant amount of stock the day before her shop was ransacked in July 2021, Maphanga lost everything she had built up over years of growing her business.
But with the help of funding, she was able to move her shop to a safer mall and start again from scratch, carrying with her the lessons that over three years of social and economic uncertainty has given her to remain the go-getter she is, no matter what.
Lebohang Nyandeni
Age: 25
Also known as: The Start-Up
Business name: LebzCafé iKoffie
Kind of business: Coffee shop
Location: Evaton, Johannesburg
Superpower: Start-Ups
Meulenberg explains in his book that the charismatic youngster epitomises the entrepreneurial spirit of the gen-Z demographic. “Running a modern coffee shop attracting business purely through social media takes the kind of gusto and forward thinking required to run a start-up in the digital era,” he writes in “The Overcomers”.
But before running a coffee shop, Nyandeni became an inspiration to youngsters in the township north of Sebokeng by running an academy to help young people create and run start-up companies. His knack for social entrepreneurship led him to search for opportunities to build a lasting business endeavour that would hire and empower young people.
By targeting young professionals and students craving their java fix in Everton, his shop, LebzCafé was headed for new heights when it became another victim of the July 2021 riots.
And while he felt betrayed by his community, he reached out to organisations and with their help, managed to revive his start-up, resuming the pursuit of his dream: becoming a successful start-up pioneer.
Published by Tracey McDonald Publishers, “The Overcomers” is available for purchase nationwide at all major South African book retailers.