Reitumetse Kholumo, the 25-year-old founder of Kwela Brews, is working to ensure that indigenous knowledge systems and makers of homegrown alcohol (umqombothi) earn their rightful place in South Africa’s formal economy.



In apartheid-era South Africa, it was popularly known that if women could not find domestic work, they would turn to brewing beer in their backyard – even though it was illegal– as a means of making ends meet. Eventually, alcohol was supplied at scale that largely supplanted these traditional brewers.



While women from all walks of life are no longer excluded from working in the formal alcohol market, monopolies such as pay disparities continue to reign.



This is something 25-year-old Reitumetse Kholumo hopes to change.



She was in her second year of chemical engineering at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, when on a field trip to one of the top brewers in the country, what stood out for her was the lack of representation.



She was studying bioprocessing and curious about indigenous African beverages, sought lessons in brewing from her grandmother.



Later on, she did a humanities elective about how engineering affects the broader public, specifically with a lens on how the profession was used to engineer apartheid. “I then looked at things a bit differently, being conscious of the fact that if I become a brewer, I’m just one brewer, but there are so many African women who are brewing on the ground, and the engineering solutions that exist do not address their problems,” she says to FORBES AFRICA.



Kholumo entered the informal industry from a bio-engineering perspective, believing the challenges to be efficiency and safety. 



While these are valid concerns, once she met the women making beer, she found other more pressing issues.



“When I met more women, their issues were more related to the market itself – they don’t have consistent buyers.”



Part of the reason was the prevalence of low-cost tier beers competing with traditionally-brewed beer.



“The women that brew authentic traditional African beer, they know how to brew safely. Efficiency is something that we are building on in a way that will complement their indigenous knowledge and how they usually brew.”



As the founder of Kwela Brews, Kholumo isn’t going to impose her ideas but rather collaborate with the women to assess the process, and see what they can adopt in their daily practices.



Kwela Brews became a distributor to solve the main problem: finding regular buyers in their relevant low-income communities.



“So, what we do is we pay the women for the brews, and we also supply them with the ingredients that they like. They’re my bosses, if anything,” she laughs.



In 2022, Kwela Brews began testing the market with products – going to Jazz in the Native Yards, a concert hosting South African musicians, primarily held in the Gugulethu township of Cape Town.



They have also now partnered with a local restaurant in Stellenbosch that sees traffic from international students and tourists, so they are widening their reach. 



“In the near future, we’re going to be doing tastings and collaborating on events just to de-risk it for them, but also so that we can learn what the market requires.”



Still completing her master’s degree in chemical engineering at Stellenbosch in the Western Cape, Kholumo’s broader interests are the beneficiation of indigenous bio-products when it comes to nutraceuticals and therapeutics. “What I want more than anything is to create a space where indigenous brews are appreciated, as they come from the indigenous knowledge-holders.” 



She says each batch of her brew tastes different because it will have different micro-organisms, which are good for people’s gut microbiomes. 



“Different women from different tribes will have different ways of brewing, and this is all over sub-Saharan Africa. So I feel like there’s a lot of potential there.”



While she received R20,000 ($1,100) in funding from the University of Cape Town’s student pitch competition, hosted by Akro, along with UCT InvestSoc and UCT Entrepreneurs Society in 2021, she quickly used the startup money. In 2022, she was on the Mastercard Foundation program that gave her another R120,000 ($6,500). And even though it’s an alcoholic product, she wants to eventually get certification about benefits for gut microbiome. She’s raising the bar for homegrown alcohol to be distributed and sold at scale. After all, as they say in South Africa, local is lekker (good).

Kholumo hopes to change the landscape for indigenous brew-masters1

Stirring It Up: The 25-Year-Old Entrepreneur Who Wants to Put South African Traditional Beer Makers On The Map

An armed conflict headed by the armed forces chief, General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the head of the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, began on April 15 in Sudan. The conflict rages on in the capital city of Khartoum and the Darfur region, where at least 460 people have been killed and 4,063 people have been injured, reports the country’s Health Ministry. Foreign states are fast evacuating their citizens from Sudan.



Noon Abdelbassit Ibhrahim, a 21-year-old medical student at Ibn Sina University in Khartoum, Sudan, was living in Burri before a missile struck outside her family home on day four of the conflict gripping Sudan.



“It hit right outside our door, all our glass windows and doors shattered, our house was basically destroyed and we left it in a state where it&#8217;s open and anyone can get inside. All our belongings, all our life is there. And we left everything behind to try and get to safety,” a distraught Abdelbassit Ibhrahim says to FORBES AFRICA on a WhatsApp call.



The family left the house in Burri on Friday, April 21, arriving in the Egyptian capital of Cairo two days later.



At first, they stayed with a relative in Soba, a suburb on the outskirts of Khartoum. The family organized a bus to take them to Cairo, traveling with Swedish, American and Irish friends. The whole bus trip cost a total of SDG2,000,000 ($3,322).



Halfway through the journey, at 8PM, they were stopped by officers and told it would be better to turn back and sleep at a nearby city, as there was the imminent threat of hijackers on their way. The group decided to continue and drive through the night.



When they arrived safely at the Egyptian border after many hours of travel, the women, children and elders were allowed in without a visa. The American, Swedish, and Irish citizens were issued a visa on arrival for $25, Abdelbassit Ibhrahim says.



Her brother, Mohamed Abdelbassit Ibrahim, 19, as well as her uncles, Moez Hassan Zain, 40, and Momein Hassan Zain, 34, were turned away at the border because they didn’t have the right paperwork, she says.



Abdelbassit Ibhrahim has not been in contact with her brother or uncles since Sunday and is worried about them.



Internet outages have been reported across the country.



“The situation in Sudan is escalating by the minute. It&#8217;s completely unsafe, and they still haven&#8217;t declared a state of emergency. People are running out of food, water. People can’t get to the hospital to get emergency services and those that can – all these hospitals are going out of service because they have no staff and no equipment. We&#8217;re very slowly losing contact with everyone.”



The death toll is believed to be higher because people are struggling to get healthcare, as most of the city&#8217;s hospitals have been forced to close. The World Health Organization (WHO) has so far recorded 11 attacks on health facilities in the country.



“Hundreds and apparently now thousands of people are stuck at the border and can&#8217;t cross over –people who don&#8217;t have passports, people whose passports have expired, men aged 16 to 49 who can’t get their visas issued. The situation is just very chaotic and not enough light is being shone onto this.



People still don&#8217;t know what&#8217;s going on. This is a point in time where we really do need food, water and medical supplies,” says Adbelbassit Ibhrahim to FORBES AFRICA.



The armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces seemingly agreed upon several ceasefires, the latest being a three-day break in fighting over the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which started on Friday. The ceasefires have largely been ignored.



The UN reports that up to 20,000 people, predominantly women and children, have escaped from Sudan to Chad.



A total of 77 South African citizens were trapped in Sudan, according to South Africa’s Head of Public Diplomacy, Clayson Monyela.



“Our nationals and embassy staff are on their way out of Khartoum. I can&#8217;t disclose the security and logistics of the operation. But they are moving out. We are in constant contact with them,” says Monyela on Twitter, on April 24.



Forty one South Africans have been bussed out of Sudan through the Egypt border along with seven Angolans, as part of a multi-South African government department effort on Monday, reports The Gift of the Givers. The organization, along with the South African government, organized the evacuations, but cell phone networks are down and hindering efforts.



The remainder of the South Africans were evacuated on Tuesday, April 26, reports The Gift of The Givers.



An increasing number of countries have evacuated diplomats and citizens from Sudan&#8217;s capital as the conflict continues. The United States, United Kingdom and Canada have flown diplomats out, reports the BBC. France, Germany, Italy, Spain and India have also been removing diplomats and other nationals.



Turkey began evacuation efforts by road on Sunday, with plans halted due to a nearby “explosion”. The citizens of Gulf countries, as well as of Egypt and Pakistan were evacuated, reports the BBC.



On Sunday, lines of UN vehicles were seen leaving Khartoum heading towards Port Sudan on the Red Sea, carrying &#8220;citizens from all over the world&#8221;, a Sierra Leonean refugee told AFP.



In recent months, Sudan had been attempting to transition towards democracy, after the 2019 coup of autocrat Omar al-Bashir. The Rapid Support Forces and the armed forces were both held responsible for the military coup.



If the conflict continues without aid or a ceasefire, it will have ramifications for the horn of Africa as the region enters yet another year of drought.

UK Government Continues Efforts To Evacuate British Nationals From Sudan

‘Left Everything Behind… Very Chaotic’: Account From Citizen Fleeing Sudan Conflict

Nomcebo Zikode, the multi platinum-selling South African singer-songwriter who won the Grammy in February for Global Music Performance with Wouter Kellerman and Zakes Bantwini, will be performing at the pan-African welcome celebration of the Forbes Under 30 Summit Africa in Gaborone, Botswana, on April 23.



The artist, who is the founder of the Nomcebo Zikode Foundation, was also at the eighth annual FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Leading Women Summit on March 8 in Pretoria, South Africa, where she spoke on stage about her tough journey to becoming a successful singer.



She outlined her trials and triumphs before performing the foot-tapping hit song Jerusalema and evoking tumultuous applause and cheers from the audience at the SunBet Arena.



She also won the 2023 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Entertainer Award at a glittering ceremony in the evening on the same day.



Speaking to FORBES AFRICA after the win, she said: “You know, people have read everywhere about my struggles. But I did not focus on my struggles – I kept on pushing. That is why today, [I am] the woman who is a Grammy winner, because I didn’t give up. I kept on pushing. I am so happy as an African woman.”



From being a backing singer to an artist receiving recognition, Zikode is a part of South Africa’s burgeoning music landscape.



“There’s so much that is happening in this industry – when I say so much I mean going through so much. So, for me as a woman, to be recognized by FORBES AFRICA is great,” Zikode added in March.



Zikode worked with Master KG on the 2019 hit single Jerusalema and later remixed with Burna Boy, the song debuted at Number 1 on Billboard Music Charts. It became an anthem in South Africa and across the world as “a feel-good” song during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nomcebo Zikode, image supplied

‘I Didn’t Focus On My Struggles, I Didn’t Give Up’: South Africa’s Grammy Winner Nomcebo Zikode

Angélique Kidjo, five-time Grammy award-winning Beninese artist and songwriter, has been announced as one of the three winners of the 2023 Polar Music Prize.



The Polar Music Prize, often called the Nobel Prize of Music, is a Swedish international award founded in 1989 by Stig Anderson, the manager of the band ABBA. The award ceremony will take place on Tuesday, May 23, in Stockholm.



“My passion for music has always been unwavering. Being on stage for me is like being in paradise – it’s my sanctuary. It’s my place to link and to connect with my fellow human beings. That is something that I’m grateful for every day,” said Angélique Kidjo in a statement on being awarded the prize.



“To be awarded the Polar Music Prize is humbling. I have no words to say how important this is for me. It comes with a sense of responsibility that is bestowed upon me as an artist to continue to do great work. I will do my best to be a proud recipient of the Prize through my work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, on behalf of the children, and as an ambassador of music, to help create a world in which we can all live in peace.Thank you so much for making me part of this prestigious Prize, in such prestigious company.”



Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records, one of the UK’s greatest independent record labels, and Estonian Arvo Pärt, known as the world’s most performed living composer, also won the award this year.



Previous recipients have included the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Miriam Makeba and Youssou N&#8217;Dour.



Each laureate will receive a prize money of 600,000 Swedish Kroner (approximately $57,384).



Since the inaugural ceremony in 1992, the Polar Music Prize has been renowned as music’s most prestigious honor. The awards committee that selects the laureates is an independent 11-member board. It receives nominations from the public as well as from the International Music Council.



Kidjo created the Batonga Foundation dedicated to supporting the education of young girls in Africa. She also travels the world advocating on behalf of children in her capacity as a UNICEF and OXFAM



Goodwill Ambassador.



She also made the 2023 50 Over 50 list on FORBES AFRICA in the February/March issue of the magazine.



She blends together jazz, hip-hop, zouk, Zairean rumba, samba, salsa, funk, gospel, Cameroonian makossa, and various Beninese traditions.

64th Annual GRAMMY Awards – Arrivals

African Sounds Reign: Angélique Kidjo Takes Home The 2023 Polar Music Prize

Désire De Oliveira, a pioneering Civil Blaster and Managing Director of Laduma Blasting in South Africa, has worked in one of the most male-dominated industries of all – construction and mining. And all she wanted to really do was hone her skills as a French pastry chef.



In her 65 years, Désire De Oliveira has never stopped moving, running her own financial accountancy business for 30 years, raising four kids, qualifying as a French pastry chef, and starting the Seaside Lodge B&amp;B in Salt Rock in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province in 2006.



Seaside Lodge B&amp;B remains consistently booked and was one of the accommodation businesses that survived Covid-19.



She’s also the first woman of color in KwaZulu-Natal to be a certified Opencast blaster (mining) and a certified Civil blaster. To put it simply: blasting is where rock gets blown into pieces with small amounts of explosive – a trickier process than one might think.



“Every accountant will tell you, the smaller the gross profit, the bigger the margin – that’s the business you’re looking for,” De Oliveira says to FORBES AFRICA. So when the owner of Laduma Blasting wanted her to partner in the business, due to her knowledge of its operations after doing its books, she agreed to make it her sole focus for one year.



She intended to return to her first passion – baking – after the year was up.



She put up the capital and he put up the blasting knowledge. In her first six months, she brought in significant business. Eventually, De Oliveira took over the company entirely and decided to get qualified as a blaster, while having a licensed blaster on hand to learn from.



It was not an easy road, as industry professionals told her she would need at least 10 years’ experience to find jobs in the sector. In 2015, she received her Learner Civil blaster, by 2016, her Opencast blaster certificate for mining, and in 2021 she finished her Civil blaster requirements.



And she’s managed to get the jobs they said she could not.



“Though everything I have succeeded at seems a walk in the park, that is because I embrace life for what it is. I have no regrets. Every hardship seems to have been used as a challenge. Looking back now and joining the dots, because of my belligerent attitude to life, I’m a non-conformer, not a follower, am also not a pushover, and certainly not a dreamer. Everything I have done, has been done my way – there’s been no mentors. I also do not carry baggage, none at all, life is too short,” De Oliveira explains.



Three of her family members contracted Covid-19 in December 2020, including herself. Her husband Peter Rutsch died due to Covid-19 in January 2021.



“It was a big shock. I missed him because as much as we didn&#8217;t see each other, we were good. He encouraged me. He let me do my thing. He did his thing. Nobody pulled each other back.”



She battled for four months with long Covid. Laduma Blasting was closed for that time too, and she had to pick up the pieces and start work again.



De Oliveira has spent the last 40 years working on average 19 hours a day, 360 days a year, including seeing to the children, cooking and caring for the home.



Home maintenance and childcare is called ‘invisible labor’, and something an Oxfam analysis valued at $10.9 trillion per year globally.



De Oliveira did not have an easy life as a woman of color in apartheid South Africa; facing the double blow of racial discrimination in all sectors including work and patriarchal attitudes, as well as surviving sexual abuse at a young age.



“Like most previously disadvantaged South Africans having lived through apartheid, we came with no capital, were not properly educated, worked hard, but could not command decent salaries – the old adage still prevailed, black people being paid far less than their white counterparts – that’s only starting to change now,” she says.



She thinks every mother in her situation wished for a better education for their children. After the 1994 elections in South Africa, the possibility of a good education started to be a reality, except she and other people did not have the finances to access it.



Now, she has managed to give her children a good education.



“I think I&#8217;ve done that my whole life, working on my own and steering my own ship so I don&#8217;t live off other people. I&#8217;m independent. So, it worked well for me that I didn&#8217;t have anything.”



Despite having long Covid and asthma, De Oliveira is preparing to run the Comrades Marathon for the 13th time this year. And she’s even thinking of opening another business.

Desire De Oliveira, first women in KZN to have a blasting license

Blasting Through The Glass Ceiling In South Africa’s Mining and Construction Sectors

Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions, published in 1988, was the first English novel in print by a black woman from Zimbabwe. She is a playwright, novelist, and filmmaker. Her novel in 2018, This Mournable Body, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.



“I would like people to know that personal redemption is possible, even under the worst circumstances,” she says about her latest novel to FORBES AFRICA. She says there’s a feeling that poverty dehumanizes in a way that is unrecoverable, but she believes that the “human thing is not given by the world, it is something we bring into the world when we are born”.



Dangarembga was arrested in Harare in 2021 for protesting against corruption – the same year in which she was awarded the PEN International Award for Freedom of Expression. In 2021, she was also the recipient of the Peace Prize – the first black woman to receive it. In 2022, after an arduous legal process, she was convicted in a Zimbabwean court of inciting public violence, as she and one other person displayed a placard asking for reform on a public road.



Dangerembga has done more than write: she has made a successful, if difficult, foray into filmmaking. After completing her degree, she found a job as a researcher at a video unity in the mid-1980s. She enjoyed the process, and after the unit closed, applied to film school.



She eventually founded Nyerai Films in 1992, the International Images Film Festival for Women (IIFF) in the Director of the Women Filmmakers in Zimbabwe, set up and became the Director of the Institute of Creative Arts for Progress in Africa (ICAPA) Trust in 2009. Dangarembga noticed that funding was given for films that problematize Africans rather than seeing Africans as agents with aspirations. She says this is self-defeating, and something she is concerned about.



The ICAPA Trust does content, training, exhibition and networking events. Dangarembga says they’ve had their ups and downs with funding. She is still looking, and still hoping Zimbabwe’s film industry will grow. She has made 21 short films, shown them internationally and locally, and received awards.



In 2020, she was announced as the University of East Anglia’s inaugural International Chair of Creative Writing, received an honorary fellowship of Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge, and in 2022, was selected to receive a Windham-Campbell literary prize for fiction.



Her advice to young filmmakers and writers? “Persevere, you simply have to find a way to persevere.”

Screenshot 2023-02-18 at 11.13.51

Tsitsi Dangarembga: ‘I Would Like People To Know That Personal Redemption Is Possible’

Two earthquakes struck 12 hours apart near Turkey&#8217;s border with Syria on Monday, with the death toll rising to 11,000 as of Wednesday, as rescuers continue to dig through thousands of collapsed buildings.



At around 4AM, the first earthquake of 7.8 in magnitude shook the city of Gaziantep, while 80 miles north in the Kahramanaras province, the second measured 7.7, according the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre’s (EMSC) preliminary data.



With rescuers searching in the bitter cold of winter, this humanitarian crisis is putting pressure on an area already burdened with economic adversity and displacement due to the war in Syria. Hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees in Turkey lived in areas now destroyed by the earthquake.



A citadel in Aleppo, Syria – which has stood for centuries – has sustained serious damage, indicating the intensity of seismic activity. Aleppo is one of the worst-hit areas in north-western Syria.



The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee has called for the lifting of sanctions, stating: “Lifting of sanctions will open the doors for additional and supplemental aid that will provide immediate relief to those in need.”



The International Rescue Committee has called for increased funding for humanitarian aid, saying that many people have already been displaced up to 20 times, and health facilities were already “stretched beyond capacity, not just because of conflict, but also as a result of a recent cholera outbreak.”



President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says that Turkey has been offered international aid by NATO, the EU, and 45 other countries following the quake.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1246862294.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-57476" width="577" height="385" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1246862294.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1246862294-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1246862294-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 577px) 100vw, 577px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"> Photo: Anas Alkharboutli/dpa (Photo by Anas Alkharboutli/picture alliance via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>


The Gift of The Givers has a presence in Syria and Turkey, and awoke to a “terrifying tremor at 04h10” on Monday morning, rapidly evacuating the children from their Bayt Kareem Child Care Centre in Gaziantep.



“The casualties in both countries are expected to increase exponentially. Freezing cold, rain, and snow are hampering search and rescue efforts,” reports the Gift of The Givers.



The organization only responds if a call is made by the affected country for international assistance. They have reportedly been contacted by the Turkish Ambassador to South Africa, Aysegul Kandas, and by the Consul General in Cape Town, Sinan Yesildag, as well as the South African Ambassador to Turkey, Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba, requesting intervention. The Turkish government made a level 4 call for international community aid.



Further assistance of search and rescue and medical teams with specialized equipment flew out on Tuesday evening, with Turkish Airlines facilitating the transport.



Medical supplies, equipment, consumables, tents, blankets, food and other humanitarian aid will be purchased in Turkey by Gift of The Givers.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="763" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1246862587.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-57478" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1246862587.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1246862587-300x224.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GettyImages-1246862587-768x572.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A man stands still in the snow in Malatya, Turkey on Feb. 7, 2023, a day after a powerful earthquake hit southern Turkey and neighboring Syria. (Photo by Kyodo News via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>


“The scale of this disaster as you already know is unprecedented and requires all of us to play whatever role in trying to assist the people of Turkey,” says South Africa’s Ambassador to Turkey, Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba to FORBES AFRICA.



Letsatsi-Duba says knowing their professionalism, capacity and experience, she thought the Gift of The Givers could represent South Africa in helping them, while following protocols regarding assistance from the government.



“We hope that their participation in this mammoth task will go a long way in saving lives and providing much more needed relief aid to the people who are badly affected,” Letsatsi-Duba concludes.



In 1999, an earthquake of similar magnitude in Izmit, Turkey, killed more than 17,000. Turkey sits on the Anatolian tectonic plate, where the North Anatolian fault line and the East Anatolian fault line create an extremely seismically active zone. The North Anatolian fault line borders the Eurasia tectonic plate, and the East Anatolian fault line borders the Arabian plate – where Syria is located.



The 1939 earthquake of similar magnitude killed around 30,000 people, and the population then was



17 million. Now, Turkey has a population of almost 87 million.



As search and rescue continues to dig through rubble and many places remain inaccessible due to damaged roads, the number of deceased will continue to rise. In the first 24 hours, rescuers have found nearly 8,000 people alive, reports AlJazeera.

Turkey-Syria quake

Turkey-Syria Earthquake Death Toll Rises: ‘Scale Of Disaster Unprecedented’, Says South Africa’s Ambassador To Turkey

The negatives of the 1988 anti-apartheid South African film, Mapantsula, lying in a basement for 35 years, have now been restored, to be unveiled at the Berlin International Film Festival next month. FORBES AFRICA speaks to director Oliver Schmitz about the technical process, its enduring relevance and bringing the film back to social memory.



Cut to the 1980s apartheid South Africa and a film released during that time.



Written by Oliver Schmitz and Thomas Mogotlane, Mapantsula debuted originally at the Cannes Film Festival in 1988, amassing worldwide acclaim.



Now, the 35mm negatives of the film have been restored to a 4k resolution by R3store Studios in London.



In 1988, the film-makers had registered it as an apolitical gangster movie in order to get it past the censor board. The apartheid regime’s Directorate of Publications made 17 cuts of 40 seconds before the film was publicized in South Africa.



“I never cut the film. And we were completely against those cuts. I never approved or saw any version of the film in a cut form,” says Schmitz to FORBES AFRICA.



Key cast and crew members agreed to let the film be pirated on VHS, never earning anything on the African release, but the film was pirated and seen endlessly, he explains.



Recently, Schmitz decided that if he didn’t restore the film, it would either disappear or end up as a bad copy on YouTube. He invested his own money with Aaryan Trivedi, his partner at What The Hero Wants (WTHW).



Color correction, picture and sound processing were done at PurpleDOG Post, a post-production house in Canada, and original analogue audio tracks were enhanced and re-mastered. Final adjustments were made at Studio Mitte.



Schmitz spent a lot of time bringing the vibrancy of the color back from the faded film.



“So now with hindsight and a firmer grasp of the technique – and not changing it because it&#8217;s very important that the same film comes to life again – the color is much more intense. So I&#8217;m very happy about that.”



Arguably, the themes of the film remain relevant today; South Africa has a high crime rate, stark economic inequality, a legacy of enduring violence, employer-employee power imbalances in informal work, and police brutality.



Some would contend that poor black people remain second class citizens, and the film’s representation of how structural racism affects both the criminal and law-abiding person remains pertinent.



Out of interest, Schmitz has been asking South Africans of all ages to comment on how the film impacts them.



“What affirms my opinions in a way is that a lot of young South Africans watch the film, and it feels as relevant to them as it did to another generation back then… And publicizing some of that now, I think a lot of those issues are as valid as they were before, and [while] it is about this very specific time in South African history, the socioeconomic conditions – a lot of them are still very much there.”



Regardless of a change of system, he adds that the system the film explored remains in South Africa in many ways.



“We commented on this at the time, about these characters being agents in their own story; it was very important for us that this film is a celebration in a weird way, because it&#8217;s about resilience and about empowerment, and the characters are not an object, or pawn pieces on a chessboard to show how bad things are, in a sense of suffering.”



The main character Panic is an opportunistic, petty criminal who is caught between individual advancement and the social drive to revolt against apartheid’s injustices.



Schmitz says that while he’s not going to go into a justification of criminality, there’s always been an element where crime is a rebellion against a system and structure, and out of need as well.



The subculture of AmaPantsula developed in the 1950s, considered then in some quarters to be well-dressed “gangsters”. That idea has been debated, as the subculture has also been documented as a response to forced removals by the apartheid regime, according to Unlabelled Magazine in a 2019 article on The Evolution of The Pantsula Subculture.



“I think what it was then was very individualistic, and a kind of way of being a rebel. And what it&#8217;s now as a subculture of music and dance is something more communal,” muses Schmitz.



He says you can draw a thread through time in terms of music and style, with present Pantsula culture paying homage to the past, but he believes as a style and dance, it’s morphed into something else.



In terms of the technical process, he says he never would’ve imagined how much work it would be – with a negative in a basement for 35 years, and chemicals in film that are not static through time.



“There’s blotches, there’s streaking, scratching, there&#8217;s dust, there’s fading. The focus, which kind of disappears, it&#8217;s almost like memories fading, and you have to try and get all of it back,” he explains.



Schmitz recalls how Kodak film had pulled out of South Africa because of the sanctions, so the only stock left was a German high-speed stock, which was more light-sensitive but grainier. Pushing the film material resulted in more grain.



The restoration process made him want to cry, and alternately, sometimes he thought the product looked great. Along the way, there were several committed people who helped bring it back to life, he says.



“Maybe there&#8217;s lessons to learn for other films, and maybe for other South African films so that they don&#8217;t disappear. Because we live in a culture where anything that’s pre-digital, unless it’s pulled into the digital age, it will be out of the communal memory, it will stop existing because it&#8217;s not in our current world.”



The newly-restored film is set to be unveiled at the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) next month.

Still from Mapantsula (1988) film restored 1

From Memory To Technicolor: South African Apartheid-Era Film To See New Life In Digital Age

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) decided on Thursday to hike electricity prices by 18.65%, taking effect by April 1.



This comes as South Africans face Stage 6 rolling blackouts for the foreseeable future, with most citizens sitting in the dark for more than six hours a day.



Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis took to Twitter to say: “Eskom’s NERSA-approved 18,6% electricity price hike is unfair, unaffordable, and unjust. The City is planning to lessen reliance on Eskom’s increasingly unaffordable electricity by buying power on the open market.”



In the submission to NERSA in September 2022, Eskom wanted South Africans to pay 32% more for electricity in the new financial year.



While the 18.65% tariff hike is less than the 32% requested, Eskom gets another 12.74% hike in April 2024.



The state-owned enterprise is aiming to recover R351 billion ($21 billion) with the tariff hike for 2023/2024, and R381 billion ($22.7 billion) in 2024/2025.



In Eskom’s financial results released last month, the 2021/2022 financial year’s losses were R12.3 billion ($734 million) as opposed to R25 billion ($1.5 billion) the year before, according to BusinessTech. The reduction in loss was reportedly due to higher sales revenue driven by a 15% tariff increase.



“How much of Eskom’s problem is having to be shouldered by customers – rather than finding a broader solution that would deal with things like debt – and not have to give its customers the result of its mismanagement and the financial burden of continuing its system?” says David Fig, a South African political economist and environmental sociologist, to FORBES AFRICA.



Fig goes onto say that the financial problems of Eskom need to be resolved in a different way, as not just the domestic arena has been affected by interrupted power availability, but industry too.



The state-owned enterprise reports that in 2023, the debt is likely to be R20.1 billion ($1.2 billion), without taking into account the price increase.



Fig posits that we are in a global situation where power is becoming more expensive for most people on the planet, as a result of shortages, and the war in Europe disrupting the supply chain. The situation in South Africa, he says, is partly a response to the global rise in energy costs.



Eskom has invested in a range of renewables. A criticism of solar is often that the sun isn’t always shining – but there are ways of capturing, storing and reusing solar.



With all sources of energy, Fig says there are problems of intermittency.



“So, for example, if you invest in more nuclear you also have periods when the reactors have to be stopped for 18 months – periods of fuel change, for example.”



When things go wrong at power stations, he says, this also creates a situation of intermittency. Something he doesn’t think is an excuse.



“I think every technology should be evaluated for a whole range of criteria, including costs, including appropriateness for our developing country, our economy, and not burdening us with huge debt, and the cost of poor decision-making.”



He concludes by saying that at the moment, the costs to the nation of solar and wind are far below all other costs of different energy technology.



“So, we have to consider it, and even if there are some challenges, we have to go ahead with them.”



With small and medium businesses, as well as working class families and those living below the poverty line likely to struggle to keep the lights on and the food from going off this year, we may have to collectively come up with sustainable alternatives – now, rather than later.

Silhouette Skyscrapers Against Orange Sky

18.65% Electricity Tariff Hike In South Africa: What Are The Current Options?

A persistent acne problem led Botswana’s Didintle Moreki to look for indigenous solutions in her backyard, and grow her skincare range into a successful business.



Didintle Moreki’s entrepreneurial story literally took root in her past.



In Botswana’s vast semi-arid shrub, grass and tree landscape, Mowana, Morula and Moringa grow naturally in the wild. The image of her grandmother and mother tending to them – as they knew the plants’ true benefits – and using them for the family is well-etched in her mind.



This is the imagery Moreki has carried forward as the founder of Organic Naturals Skincare, a Botswana-based beauty brand she launched in 2019 using ingredients indigenous to sub-Saharan Africa.



The ingredients are widely available but not many know their health benefits, and that is what 26-year-old Moreki wants to spread as ubiquitously as the plants.



There is also a key staple in her products – the will to work with local businesses to sustain families. The company works with women-led cooperatives who farm and supply or simply collect the plants from the wild.



“I found out about the potency of Morula, and then the potency of Moringa; it is in every single household in Botswana, and I never understood why. It’s [called] the tree of life for a reason. Its properties are your vitamin C and vitamin A,” says Moreki to FORBES AFRICA.



Mowana, high in omega-3 fatty acids with anti-inflammatory properties, is considered a treatment for acne. Marula, often used as a moisturizer, is high on vitamin C that can reduce hyperpigmentation caused by acne.



Once picked, the plants are processed into oils – and they are all chemical-free. The supply chain creates economic opportunities in local economies such as Maun, Botswana’s fifth-largest town.



According to Moreki’s website, three out of five women in Maun are breadwinners for their families, so her work is imperative.



“I was always an early bloomer,” smiles Moreki, who started school at the age of three and entered university to study accounting at the age of 16.



Recalling her early years, Moreki speaks of how she struggled with acne, and used western medicine to little avail and often adverse physical reactions.



“Nobody knows you, but everyone feels the right to talk about your situation,” she explains, remembering the one time someone suggested toothpaste and lemon juice as remedy for a breakout.



While everyone had an unsolicited comment about something she had little control over, Moreki’s confidence dropped. Then, her grandmother introduced her to the virtues of the local plants while she was on a break from university. And her skin improved.



From 2015, the idea was born; a face care range using locally-sourced and easily-available plants, which could in turn, help financially empower families.



“I was intrigued by why Moringa was in every single home, especially in my village, Kanye. When we were young, if you had back pain, or period pains, we would drink these leaves in tea.”



Kanye is a town in the southeast region of Botswana, 83 kilometers from the capital Gaborone, near the border with South Africa.



Marula grows in the south and north of Botswana. At the beginning of the year, it blooms in the south.



Organic Naturals Skincare works with a cooperative, BLG, comprising 1,800 women and men who go out and pick the Morula. They get paid for every bag.



“Before, we would just go out and gather Moringa in the wild. But instead, we have decided that unlike Marula…Moringa can actually be farmed,” says Moreki.



Organic Naturals Skincare faced a number of challenges.



“The first was finding a distribution partner, showing the legitimacy of what we’re doing, gathering the funds for testing, and most importantly ensuring the sustainability of our products on the shelves. So, going into retail was not easy… it required us to build a strong distribution.”



She adds that building the team was also a challenge.



Found in 17 stores across Botswana, Organic Naturals Skincare boasts 12 products including bar soaps, facial toners, clay masks, a facial serum, body butter, body oil and hand sanitizers.



The brand launched another product in October, a Niacinamide serum, which is a form of Vitamin B3 that helps protect cells from pollution and sunlight.



2022 has been significant as Moreki expanded to three more countries – South Africa, Zambia, and Lesotho. It has widened the scope of her work.



“Expansion means a lot of things for us, particularly in the sense that it gives us more local opportunities in terms of employment, and it also gives us the opportunity to accelerate or catalyse support in regards to our suppliers, and lastly, it means more of a footprint, it means vocalizing the power of indigenous plants on the skin and how they help people.”



Moreki is set to expand to other markets disseminating the fact that it’s time the rest of the world understood the benefits of indigenous knowledge systems.

Screenshot 2023-01-02 at 16.40.53

Business-Savvy In Botswana: From Plants To Profits

<h2 class="has-text-align-center wp-block-heading" id="h-wemimo-abbey-co-founder-esusu">Wemimo Abbey Co-Founder, Esusu</h2>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">“We like to call ourselves [social] justice capitalists.”</blockquote>



Wemimo Abbey, co-founder of Esusu, a company which reports rent payments to major credit bureaus helping renters establish their credit scores and owners maximize returns, says the company was born out of personal struggles.



Abbey grew up in the slums of Lagos, Nigeria, and was raised by his mother, along with two sisters, after his father passed away when he was just two years old. Despite having less than a secondary school education, his mother ensured he went to one of the best high schools they could find. This took the family from the lush tropical climate of Lagos to the freezing climes of Minnesota in the US.



“During that transition, something important happened. We didn&#8217;t have a credit score. We walked into one of the largest financial institutions to borrow money [and] were turned away. We had to go borrow money from a predatory lender at over 400% interest rate.”



His mother pawned his father’s ring and borrowed money from church members to make payments. This led Abbey and his co-founder, Samir Goel, to start a company premised on the idea that no matter where you come from or the color of your skin, your financial identity shouldn’t ring fence your path in life.



Aside from establishing credit scores, Esusu gives zero-interest rent relief paid directly to landlords when people cannot pay, so people are not evicted.



Abbey says they’re not solving homelessness backwards, adding that they operate on the social aspect of ESG – to give data-driven improved credit scores.



After university, both Abbey and Goel quit their corporate jobs, combining savings and $100,000 in credit card debt to fund the startup. After being rejected by almost 326 potential investors at the time, Abbey says it’s a scrappy story of realizing potential. Today, Esusu covers three million rental units in 50 US states, across real estate asset classes including affordable public housing, luxury student housing, military, and everything in between. They’ve grown from a staff of 20 to 200 in under two years. Not to mention, they’re making an impact despite their youth; Goel is 28, Abbey is 30.



“At Esusu we like to call ourselves [social] justice capitalists. Doing good and doing well isn&#8217;t mutually exclusive,” Goel says. He argues they are in the best position to create solutions for the demographic that not only looks like them but also are going through similar challenges.



They started with a savings model, digitizing age-old collective community savings techniques. However, they soon learned people already knew how to save, so they pivoted their model after realizing most consumers didn’t have access to affordable financing in an emergency.



“It&#8217;s quite obvious that we don&#8217;t look like everyone else in Silicon Valley. But I think beyond that, one of the things we realized is a lot of the people we were talking to lacked proximity to the issues that we were trying to solve,” says Goel. He says that, from their perspective, they’re serving the majority, as there are more people who are credit invisible like immigrants, minorities, and low-income households. Within these brackets, there are more people living paycheck-to-paycheck than those who are not.



Abbey reflects that a mobile phone is a powerful tool for digitizing African economies and unlocking opportunities. “We&#8217;re very excited that on the African continent with the emergence of new technologies, borrowing money doesn&#8217;t have to be a derivative of your father&#8217;s last name anymore.” He adds that it has become more about credit risk and financial profiles. These innovations, he notes, means the world is seeing Africans create solutions for Africans.



“So this is the movement of the African continent from this aid-based, poverty-ridden continent to a new era of innovation, technology, championed by its youth population. We think the movement is just getting started. So, it&#8217;s common business sense [for] the folks in Silicon Valley making these investments on the continent. My opinion – the best is still yet to come.”



Goel says Esusu does not look like other unicorns in the US, as their capitalization table is 75% black and brown women, the management team is 93% people of color, first- or second-generation immigrants and women. The company as a whole is composed of people of color.



Abbey says when they were declared a unicorn, they were immensely grateful. The company tells the story that it’s possible to invest in a minority-owned business and outperform other companies. Overall, Esusu tells a story of the impact and effect capital can have in the lives of many.



Abbey observes that a lot of African countries are young with the oldest around 60 years old, unlike the US which is over 300 years old. “If you look at the rate of growth, it&#8217;s actually accelerating compared to where places like the United States were when they were at this age,” he says.



It’s a renaissance that technology is going to revolutionize the way the continent thinks, and the way other places think about Africa. The narrative is changing from tourism and wildlife to which high-growth startups to invest in.



“We need to do more of the showing and stop telling people. Let the record speak for itself! Relegate the rhetoric, consider there’s something genius and there&#8217;s something special about the folks that come from the continent. And we&#8217;re just getting started. Because we&#8217;re young, we&#8217;re vibrant, we have ideas that can really change the world,” Abbey concludes.

Wemimo_A_Indoors

UNICORNS-Esusu: Digitizing African Economies In A New Era

South African design collective Always Welcome on bringing beautiful local ideas to life.



Garreth van Niekerk and Alan Hayward, co-founders and directors of the South African design store, Always Welcome, are partners in life and business.



Van Niekerk was a design journalist for a decade, while Hayward has a musical background and began an interior design business in soft furnishings five years ago. They realized the two worlds could meet – design and design storytelling.



“We’ve spent so much of our lives working apart that it’s really been a dream since we started dating to work together. So much as it’s a business, it’s our little love project as well,” says van Niekerk to FORBES AFRICA.



During Covid, the design industry was hit hard, and designers needed a way to access new markets. There was so much uncertainty, and the risk was too high for people to start their own retail stores, van Niekerk explains.



A few designers approached them about starting a collective retail store, taking the risk off individual studios, but also allowing them to step away from aspects of the business they didn’t want to do.



“Our rule at Always Welcome is everybody has to be a designer manufacturer, so they have to design and make their own stuff. And so for them, that’s their focus – retail is a whole other beast.”



They came up with a cost-splitting model, starting with eight people, for a store at Hyde Park Corner, a shopping center in an upmarket suburb in Sandton. At that stage, the mall was full of empty shops, so they proposed using collective resources to market the store – and it worked.



While they operated the Hyde Park store, they met a fan of South African design, Maurice van Heerden, the owner of Planetworld, a provider of bespoke home and auto audio solutions. Planetworld wanted to connect their products; home tech, such as smart home automation, speakers, audio and TVs for South African clients.



With this partnership, they moved to Viewing Rooms in Kramerville. With a client base that is very similar, but also dissimilar, they managed to cross-pollinate and bring the two worlds together in 2022, with over 30 designers in-store.



“The power of this collective is that it’s designed for designers, by designers. So the model has been facilitated by designers to make sure that it works for their businesses. That’s why it has been received so well – everybody has a vested interest in making it work.”



Designers can come to one place instead of many and he adds that the industry needs it just as much as the designers do.



“It’s become like its own little world, almost, where you can kind of get a sense of what the temperature is of design.”



The demand from Cape Town became overwhelming – with moving products to the Mother City and managing sales, they knew they had to begin a store there. The search for a suitable spot took months.



By chance they met an entrepreneur and philanthropist who had spent two years restoring a 300-year-old building and provincial heritage site in Cape Town.



The building is founded by Victoria Engelhorn, Tim Harris and Brad Armitage – and the store is one of the Habitus ‘lighthouse’ initiatives intended to restore the inner-city’s social, commercial, creative and integrated work environments to pre-pandemic days.



The Always Welcome Heritage House launched in November in Cape Town, spanning two floors of the building and encompassing 40 of southern Africa’s designers-manufacturers.



The launch has been a marked success.



Van Niekerk says it’s a different vibe to Johannesburg’s Viewing Rooms; an old building with abundant walls, there’s space for a lot more art, and it feels more like a house.



“It’s a completely different customer; people seem to be looking for bigger things, pieces must be bigger, the design must be more outlandish than the things we presented. It’s been interesting…to open up to completely different markets.”



In terms of the foundation of temporary South African design, the big names in the store include Dokter and Missus, Houtlander, and Haldane as a few examples. Van Niekerk says there’s also newer studios that are coming up like MashT Studio – one of the founders’ designs has just been acquired by the Louvre Museum. The Urbanative is another black female designer who is changing the game, he adds.



Always Welcome’s approach is to make sure that the manufacturers have the capacity to supply a 100 chairs if a customer orders it.



“Organizationally, we are too small of a business to be able to facilitate the growth of another company while we’re trying to build our own. So we’ve tried to stay away from development up until now, until we’ve got a partner who can help us do that.”



On November 24, they launched a partnership with the clothing brand H&amp;M.



He says that it’s been great to work with such a big corporate company, and get exposure to a wider audience.



Photographer Trevor Stuurman was putting up his photography prints in their Hyde Park store. In the Viewing Rooms in Kramerville, they worked with him on two listening pods, where he designed textiles and wallpapers, an immersive visual and musical experience of diametrical opposites – one room is warm colors and the other is cool.



Stuurman collaborated with Dokter and Missus on two pieces of furniture, and his first rug with MONN Carpets. It’s evolved from pictures on a wall to working with other designers in the collective – a modus operandi with Always Welcome.



Usually people would be in competition with each other, but in this collective, designers get to share information about manufacturing or work together on ideas to bring them to life.



Big brands are coming to Always Welcome to collaborate – one of them is the American Hardwood Export Council, a state-funded organization. American Hardwood is one of the most sustainable hardwoods in the world, and van Niekerk says when they arrive in South Africa, they are carbon negative.



After they approached Always Welcome, the collective made a project called Future Heirlooms. It involved seven local designers who had never worked with this wood before, giving them an open brief responding to sustainability and heritage. Houtlander manufactured the pieces. With the combination of design, a corporation and curation, seven spectacular pieces were realized, van Niekerk says.



They are setting up partnerships to expand opportunities for designers from across the continent, and for designers in southern Africa to start working with their counterparts across Africa and the diaspora.



When van Niekerk and Hayward have time, they walk their Pomeranians named Hercules and Leonardo down the promenade at sunset. Johannesburg has their hearts though, so you can expect to



see them back in the city of gold soon. But wherever they are, they’ll be getting designers together, highlighting the best of local creations.



Editor’s Note: Updated 30 December 2022-This article has been slightly modified from the original to correct certain factual inaccuracies. We regret the error.

Alan Hayward and Garreth van Niekerk outside Always Welcome Heritage House by Paula Young

South African Entrepreneurs On The Power Of The Designers Collective

Daniel Marfo is managing operations in Africa for Zipline, ensuring that life-saving medical products are sent almost instantly to inaccessible areas using drones. The company has operated 300,000 flights in Ghana and Rwanda over the last five years. Up next: Kenya and Côte d&#8217;Ivoire, also alleviating food insecurity on the continent.



When logistics system Zipline began operations in Africa, it piqued the interest of Daniel Marfo, a Ghanaian pharmacist, because he wanted to use technology to solve healthcare issues in the developing world.



He saw a chance to solve a logistical challenge; with all the roads that need constructing and maintenance in Africa, he knew infrastructure development would take too long, and so he joined Zipline in October 2018.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/DSCF4450-683x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-57075" width="387" height="580" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/DSCF4450-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/DSCF4450-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/DSCF4450-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/DSCF4450-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/DSCF4450-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/DSCF4450-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes="(max-width: 387px) 100vw, 387px" /></figure></div>


It was a long road from the world of pharmaceuticals, but with the same purpose: helping save lives.



As Senior Vice President of Zipline’s operations in Africa, at 35 years old, he is leading the market efforts across the continent, expanding the company’s reach geographically and expanding the use cases for drones.



When Marfo began, he made a point to visit as many rural areas of Ghana before deploying the technology – once having to take a ferry, followed by canoes and a long hike.



“The people, they&#8217;re dependent on whatever means of transportation that exist to be able to access their medications. When we started service, and they received their first supply of medications by drone, it was remarkable, you had just changed their lives,” he says.



He refers to a small village called Gbintri in the north eastern region of Ghana. Anytime it rains, access to roads gets cut off, and the health facility shuts down.



In 2019, it was the first time the health facility didn’t shut down.



A challenge they faced was integrating a new system into an old way of operating; so Zipline created a department called systems integration, which looked at ways to merge drone technology with existing health systems and existing aviation systems.



It’s one of the hardest parts, he says, as they’re asking airspace regulators to allow hundreds of drones to fly every day.



Another challenging aspect has been community integration, as a lot of people in the rural areas have never seen a drone until now. He says the first impression of drones from people was that they were military or spy vehicles.



Marfo now takes dummy drones into the communities and uses community champions to explain the functions of the service.



When they launched the fifth center in Ghana, they were connecting to a health facility. Two elderly gentlemen happened to be sitting under a tree, enjoying the day. A drone swooped in, dropped the package, catching them by surprise, as they together exclaimed that “God had just delivered something from heaven”.



Health staff had to explain that this is the new way they receive medication – and they were still blown away.



When speaking about the potential of drone use in Africa, Marfo mentions that the airspace in Africa isn’t as busy as Europe or America – positing that in the future, Africa could have the most advanced drone network and regulatory systems.



Zipline has operated 300,000 flights in Ghana and Rwanda combined over the last five years. Usually, the flights are round trips of 100 or more kilometers.



They started using it to deliver blood in Rwanda, and realized they could use it for medical products.



When Covid hit, they delivered over a million doses of vaccines in Ghana.



In Ghana, 70,000 malaria test kits and nearly 1.3 million courses of malaria treatment were delivered partnering with Ghana’s Health Service. In five months, 5,000 malaria vaccines were transported to piloted districts by May 2022.



“In Africa, the other use case that resonated deeply with me was food security. If I can make sure that people have access to food and [their] livelihood, I&#8217;m actually fulfilling 50% of our healthcare mission.”



In January 2022, they piloted their agriculture use case, focusing on animal health, delivering semen for artificial insemination in pigs. They extended the use case to delivering animal vaccines.



He adds that they have scaled to sending nutrients for kids two years old and younger in rural areas.



“It&#8217;s just become an amazing way of how drones have morphed from being seen as a spy or a military tech to a recreational tech, and now, it&#8217;s really a life-transforming tech.”



Soon, they will open operations in Kenya, beginning with Kisumu, a port city on Lake Victoria. From there, they can reach 13 counties from one location. They are also moving to Côte d&#8217;Ivoire.



“We are very excited about our planned expansion into the Ivory Coast. It&#8217;s the first French-speaking country that we are entering…It also brings about its own set of challenges, cultural understanding and cultural integration.”



Marfo says if they want to be a truly global company, this is part of the evolution.



In June 2022, they commissioned the first distribution center in Nigeria in Kaduna State. He says the uptake of the service has been good, with medical products, vaccines and blood being distributed.



There’s been a lot of interest in agricultural use cases in Nigeria too, and they are planning to open another facility in Bayelsa State by the first quarter of 2023, as well as Cross River State. There was flooding affecting 33 out of 36 states in Nigeria by October 2022.



“No one prays for natural disasters, but in case it ever comes again, we are in a position to bring at least some relief to people during such a difficult time.”



In Rwanda, from February to November, the company introduced animal health deliveries, which now make up 17%-18% of deliveries.



“Sixty percent of the population in sub-Saharan Africa are farmers, and so, we are making sure that farmers are able to get the vaccines for the animals so that they don&#8217;t lose any of these animals, to be able to get them better semen so that they can get a better breed of animals, which generates more meat, means that we are actually changing the economy of these people&#8217;s lives.”



If the farmers are earning $10 a month from agriculture, he posits they may be earning double with the addition of drone technology. These are the use cases that excite him; technology that is not just saving lives with much-needed blood for transfusions or vaccines, but improving food security and putting more money in the hands of the people who matter, and who are the bulk of the population of the continent.



In Ghana, they also began focusing on poultry vaccines for farmers, specifically for Newcastle disease, in partnership with CowTribe – a Ghana-based for-profit organization focused on supporting livestock farmers via a mobile platform.



“Newcastle&#8217;s disease ravages about 70% of the chicken population, and it&#8217;s really terrible. But over the last few months, we&#8217;ve been able to make sure that farmers within our catchment areas have been able to get all their vaccines and they haven&#8217;t lost animals.”



For some, this is going to be the first time in years that the disease didn&#8217;t affect most of their flock. Marfo says around Christmas, farmers sell a lot of chicken and beef, and this will put more money in their pockets.



By September, Zipline and a leading e-commerce platform Jumia partnered up in Ghana to deliver retail products, with the goal of expanding into the other countries Jumia operates in.



“In increasing access for consumers, we’re also helping the small and medium businesses that use Jumia grow.”



The partnership makes Jumia’s existing logistics system more efficient and sustainable as the electric fleet reduces carbon emissions by 98% compared to delivery by car, according to Marfo.



“I think we are at that point where we did healthcare for five years, we&#8217;ve added on agriculture and even with agriculture we are just scraping the surface.”



When he began at Zipline four years ago, they were delivering a product to a health facility every four minutes. Now, they deliver every two minutes.



He wants to continue working on improving in terms of use cases, volume and scale – and make it so every minute, someone is getting a necessary or life-saving product.

Zipline Aircraft

‘Life-Transforming Tech’: Using Drones To Change Economies In Africa

The pre-owned luxury fashion market is gaining currency in South Africa. We dig out helpful hints for prospective buyers – and resellers – and the trend towards conscientious fashion over conspicuous consumption.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">Customers are able to earn a profit when reselling due to the appreciating value of the items. Zahariev uses the example of the Hermès Birkin, costing $2,000 in 1984 rising to $13,200 in 2022.</blockquote>



It does not take a lot of cash to strut stylishly on the streets of South Africa, the continent’s second biggest economy.



The pantsula style, inspired by the gardener uniforms worn during the Apartheid, are popular, and so also the lavish skhothane-inspired cultural style from Soweto. For the catwalk down the streets of Sandton, Africa’s richest square mile and citadel of consumption, the Chanel handbag or Gucci loafers and sunglasses are always at hand.



Who can tell if they are second-hand? It’s the label that counts. Which is why the pre-owned luxury brands market is big and growing in Africa.


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<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/photo-taken-by-Aidan-Murgatroyd-of-Katie-Pearse-wearing-the-luxury-brand-Mulberry-1-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-57106" width="688" height="459" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/photo-taken-by-Aidan-Murgatroyd-of-Katie-Pearse-wearing-the-luxury-brand-Mulberry-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/photo-taken-by-Aidan-Murgatroyd-of-Katie-Pearse-wearing-the-luxury-brand-Mulberry-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/photo-taken-by-Aidan-Murgatroyd-of-Katie-Pearse-wearing-the-luxury-brand-Mulberry-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/photo-taken-by-Aidan-Murgatroyd-of-Katie-Pearse-wearing-the-luxury-brand-Mulberry-1-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/photo-taken-by-Aidan-Murgatroyd-of-Katie-Pearse-wearing-the-luxury-brand-Mulberry-1-2048x1366.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 688px) 100vw, 688px" /><figcaption>Photo taken by Aidan Murgatroyd of Katie Pearse.</figcaption></figure></div>


For example, global management consulting firm McKinsey expects the pre-owned luxury watch market to be worth between $29 billion to $32 billion by 2025, growing annually at 8%-10%, unlike the expected growth of 1%-3% for the market for new watches.



“It really is expected and predicted to continue to quite exponentially grow in the next few years,” says Katie Pearse, founder of My Desert Rose that sells pre-owned luxury items online based in Cape Town, about the sector.



Michael Zahariev, co-founder of Luxity, a luxury reseller based in Cape Town, notes that over the last decade long-term investments in brands like Rolex have outdone real estate, gold, and even the Dow Jones Industrial Average. In a press release, he says the reasons are price stability motivated by supply and demand.



Inflation from 1955 to 2015 averaged 3.7% annually in the United States. A Chanel Medium Classic Flap Bag purchased in 1955 at $220 would be $1,967 according to this metric, reports BagHunter. Now, it is roughly $8,800 plus tax if you want to buy it brand-new.



Different items appreciate in value in differing levels, but the emergence of the pre-owned luxury market signals a shift in the simplicity of reselling high-end goods, a heightened interest, and opportunities for investors.



Size and shine: The start



The best businesses come about as solutions to problems – as is the case with Luxity, founded by Zahariev and Luke Calitz in 2016. A friend of theirs wanted to sell her pre-owned goods, but was struggling due to safety and authenticity concerns with selling online.



The pair was running a digital agency, and thought they could pivot to being a trusted entity that authenticates goods.



“That&#8217;s kind of how we started, it was very small. And we started with her 20 items. So that was our initial stock, and then it just really exploded from there,” says co-founder Zahariev.



They serve all genders now, but began with handbags and shoes oriented towards women, purely as an e-commerce business. Now, it is an omnichannel boutique with multiple stores, and a new store opening on December 1 on the V&amp;A Waterfront in Cape Town.



Pearse of My Desert Rose is a fashion management graduate of the London College of Fashion. While living in the United Kingdom, Pearse found luxury clothes at the ubiquitous second-hand stores there. When she returned to South Africa, she found this form of fashion shopping almost non-existent.



Pearse originally worried that the luxury market would be a small and niche sector, without the possibility of growing a business sustainably – but was quickly proven wrong. She began My Desert Rose as a side-hustle, immediately blown away by the amount of interest it garnered.



“There&#8217;s huge wealth in South Africa, if I&#8217;m honest. I keep getting surprised with how much people are happy to spend in South Africa. As soon as I realized that there was a big market for this, I just ran with it.”


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<figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/LukeMichael1-782x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-57105" width="548" height="718" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/LukeMichael1-782x1024.jpg 782w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/LukeMichael1-229x300.jpg 229w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/LukeMichael1-768x1006.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/LukeMichael1-1173x1536.jpg 1173w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/LukeMichael1-1564x2048.jpg 1564w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/LukeMichael1-scaled.jpg 1954w" sizes="(max-width: 548px) 100vw, 548px" /><figcaption>Michael and Luke</figcaption></figure></div>


Pearse learned how to do product photography, website building, graphic design and everything else required. She has one full-time assistant, and recently hired a product photographer.



“I really believe as an owner of a business or as a manager of any sort, if you can know and understand how to do every job, then you can bring the best people in and teach the right people and expand correctly.”



She believes starting small enabled her to offer what she tentatively poses as the lowest commission in South Africa, 35% or a minimum of R500 ($29) per order.



Buying in when staying at home



The lipstick index is an economic indicator created by Leonard Lauder, Chairman Emeritus of the board of fashion house Estée Lauder, describing the increased sales of cosmetics during the early 2000s recession.



Lauder asserted that increase of cosmetics sales tend to be inversely correlated to economic health. The theory is that people buy ‘less’ expensive items in lieu of bigger purchases in times of economic difficulty. This can be applied to Covid-19 where wealthy people didn’t travel or dine out, and tended to acquire things online.



Pearse says it’s difficult to buy international luxury brands in South Africa new. Brands like Louis Vuitton, Giorgio Armani, Gucci, Prada, Versace Collection, Hermès, Burberry, Dolce &amp; Gabbana, and Cartier are found in South Africa, but only in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Covid-19 travel restrictions limited what people could do, she says.



“The cost to fly is still absolutely exorbitant, so I feel people are still not traveling as much as they would. So they&#8217;re not able to go on their yearly holiday to Europe to go and buy Chanel.”



She explains that when luxury items are bought second-hand in South Africa, the value is increased, because the demand increases when people cannot buy brand new.



There’s been a growth in the pre-loved market, with a change in mindset and understanding of what the market actually is, Pearse explains. She had clients approach her with the sentiment that they didn’t know reselling quality items was a possibility.


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<figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Rolex-Watch-1024x681.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-57107" width="461" height="306" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Rolex-Watch-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Rolex-Watch-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Rolex-Watch-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Rolex-Watch-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Rolex-Watch-2048x1363.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 461px) 100vw, 461px" /></figure></div>


“The whole mindset shift happened because people were exposed to it during lockdown.”



She says it creates a circularity, buying an item like a Chanel handbag, then reselling a year later, and buying something else – effectively rotating their closest.



“During the initial stages of the pandemic, for instance, production ground to a halt which meant that there were even fewer watches on the market, thereby increasing their allure. Now, with the Russia-Ukraine crisis affecting the prices and availability of precious metals used in the creation of these timepieces, this is pushing their value up even further. That said, investment is a long-term game so whatever is happening now shouldn’t be a concern,” shares Zahariev in a press release.



Zahariev aptly notes that there are changes during the stages of the pandemic. In summary he says a lot of wealthy people were not as affected as other people. With refunded holidays, unable to go to restaurants and have luxury experiences, and an excess cash flow, they began to shop online.



“So that drove a lot of them naturally to pre-owned luxury, because it was the only luxury they could get, because with regular luxury you can&#8217;t really shop online,” he explains.



He notes that because of the pandemic, people were also open to new ideas.



“And I think even people who wouldn&#8217;t typically do luxury goods, they didn&#8217;t really sway that way – they’re like, ‘well, this is all I can do’. So they started also going into luxury goods.”



This strengthened the market, he says, and with pandemic restrictions lifted, luxury brands, along with the pre-loved sector, now continue to grow.



Trends and hidden gems



What sells the most on Luxity? Louis Vuitton, a staple luxury brand in South Africa, according to Zahariev. Gucci follows closely, with both brands making up a third of searches on their website. He says Chanel is also loved in South Africa.



“So I think part of the reason that brand holds its value really highly is because there&#8217;s so much demand for it but zero supply, so people are willing to pay just to get access to it on the second-hand market.”



The most notable item Luxity sold in terms of price was a Birkin bag by Hermès, sold in eight minutes for R280,000 ($16,000).



While personally Zahariev gravitates towards Gucci for its fun, millennial vibe, he has some pointers for potential investment items. Rather than go for the expensive bags above R100,000 ($5,700), he suggests pieces that are cheaper and more accessible, and in terms of value – grow much faster.



Five years ago, a Louis Vuitton favorite bought for around R10,000 ($570) will sell for double that price now. And using a payment plan, over three months, the item becomes even more accessible, Zahariev explains. When customers want to resell, they will get their money back – even after the fees charged by Luxity.



Customers are able to earn a profit when reselling due to the appreciating value of the items. Zahariev uses the example of the Hermès Birkin, costing $2,000 in 1984 rising to $13,200 in 2022.



“So I think that there are a lot of hidden gems, and the things to look out for in terms of that are bags that are very popular and possibly discontinued,” Zahariev muses.



Pearse echoes Zahariev in that Louis Vuitton is a favorite. Sometimes, she’ll list a trendy Louis Vuitton handbag and it’ll sell in under three hours. Hermès scarves do relatively well, as well as Gucci belts and accessories, and Chanel. Dolce &amp; Gabbana is also gaining traction, she adds.



Pearse is personally a fan of Yves Saint Laurent, and her favorite shoe brand is Monolo Blahnik. She loves it when vintage items come through, as an insight into previous trends.



“My fashion and style is quite classic. So, definitely love the unique Chanel. I was very excited when we received the Hermès Constance bag, because those are out of production.”



It’s rare to get your hands on one, she says, especially in South Africa. They still retain their value, regardless of their condition, because they are discontinued.



The most expensive single item My Desert Rose has sold yet is a Dolce &amp; Gabbana bag, at R17,000 ($980). They’ve also had baskets of multiple goods, sold for upwards of R28,000 ($1,600).



Conspicuous consumption or circular economy?



The Theory of the Leisure Class by Thorstein Veblen critiques what he terms “conspicuous consumption” where someone buys luxuries to show off their social status, something Veblen associates with consumerism, an impediment to economic progress.



As working class people feel marginalized, Veblen says they attempt to improve their social standing by how many products they can buy, often overpriced. This is the theory of trickle-down fashion, where he argues that fashion starts with the leisure class.



Conspicuous consumption has a number of qualities, namely excessive quantity, quality, and then scarcity of the garment as well as possession of the most up-to-date clothing.



Zahariev says that the status quo cannot be changed without having the buy-in from people who buy into the status quo.



“So, this is a way to kind of bridge the gap between sustainability and consumerism, to show people that, ‘hey, you can do things a bit differently, and they make you feel just as good’. And slowly people will change their behavior.”



He uses the example of recycling – people didn’t change overnight into splitting all their waste into different bins – and in this case, selling pre-owned luxury is just the first step. By rebranding pre-owned into something that wealthy people will actually buy, that is beginning to make a difference he says, with that one item not going into a landfill.



He adds that rebranding pre-owned luxury removes the stigma for not just the wealthy, but everyone else, so they can also buy items.



Pearse says that any business, whether it’s fast or slow fashion, is going to have an environmentally detrimental effect. From the beginning, she knew the business would be branded as sustainable circular fashion; reducing environmental impacts by extending their life span and reducing their water use as a result, and stopping items from ending up in landfills.



She says companies promote the selling of pre-loved goods as environmentally beneficial, but it doesn’t negate that it’s a business which has environmental consequences, when everything is shipped and therefore does contribute to carbon emissions.



The first initiative for My Desert Rose is partnering with a Cape Town-based NGO, Spekboom for Climate, planting spekboom for every purchase. Many businesses plant a tree, but Pearse wanted to do something different, and start in her back garden. Spekbom has a higher rate of absorption of carbon than the average tree, and is water-wise. The NGO works with local communities, planting in underserved communities to green the areas.



Another initiative they do annually with the soup kitchen ‘Ladles of Love’ in Cape Town is a pop-up Street Store, where unhoused people can enjoy the dignity of ‘shopping’ for clean, well-kept clothes free of charge, with volunteer ‘sales assistants’ to help people choose. They then get a hot meal on their way out. Pearse got the idea after clients wanted to sell high-end but not luxury clothes, and rather than just donate them, she wanted to go the extra mile.



Some argue fashion trickles down from the wealthy, but in South Africa, there’s a mix of imported styles and fashion established from the working class, trickling up.



Something young South Africans amply have – across price brackets – is style.

Gucci-Bag1

Beg, Borrow Or Style: Boom In Africa’s Pre-Owned Luxury Fashion Market

Seven years ago, FORBES AFRICA interviewed Letty Ngobeni on her rise to successful entrepreneurship despite her disadvantaged background. Now, she is running not one, but multiple businesses that survived the onslaught of Covid-19.



This is a story of how South Africa has had its share of survivors and thrivers during the pandemic.



Take the case of Letty Ngobeni, from a small village called Nkuri in South Africa’s Limpopo province. As a child, her family was unable to afford school fees or uniforms, and she would often go to bed hungry.



It’s irony that she went on to become a teacher for 19 years. And thereafter, an entrepreneur.



Her maintenance company, Integrico, has catered to big clients in the country such as City Power, the South African Broadcasting Corporation, and MTN.



Not only that, after running a successful catering business, Mndhavazi Caterers, she now runs OBC Vosloorus, a butchery and grocery store in Midrand, Johannesburg, marking her expansion into retail.



She has even opened up a guesthouse in the West Rand of Johannesburg called RNB Boutique Guesthouse. And there’s more to come.



“We are also adding a culinary school, which is called RNB culinary school, accredited by SETA. So we are fully fledged to operate a school, which we plan to open next year. So, we have been expanding in terms of our scope,” Ngobeni says to FORBES AFRICA.



A differentiating factor with the school is that they don’t only train the chefs, but employ them after, absorbing them into the corporate canteens.



Currently, they have 18 corporate canteens.



“I think what I&#8217;ve learned during the past six years, and especially during the time of Covid is that it is important to balance your finances. I went for training, an incubation program with Property Point, where they have taught us the importance of cash flow. You need to have cash flow at least for a period of six months, just to cater for unforeseen expenses.”



“I know people say ‘use other people&#8217;s money to make money,’ but I beg to differ. I don&#8217;t like using other people&#8217;s money to make money. Because when Covid hit, and you are owing the bank, or any other company that financed you, then how are you going to pay that back? Instead, the interest rates keep on piling, you end up owing a lot, and then you are unable to pay back the money that you owe.”



Ngobeni says when Covid-19 came, they didn’t owe anyone anything, a saving grace during the pandemic.



She says while her husband and her were “extremely sick” with Covid, they had to rely on and trust their managers, who were given an opportunity to showcase what they were capable of and managed to impress Ngobeni.



“I have learned to appreciate the value of life. And I have also learned that material things are just vanity.”



She says that she has realized that no matter how much money you have, money cannot buy life.



When Ngobeni’s husband was first ill with Covid, she took him to the hospital, but there were no beds available in the ICU. They had to wait, and the doctor asked her what she wanted to do.



She asked them to get a bed for her husband. Around midnight, she pretended to be strong so they would allow her to drive home, despite her breathing issues.



Before leaving the hospital, however, she asked her son to bring her laptop to the hospital, and contacted their financial advisor. She could not speak because of the state of her lungs, so she sent WhatsApp messages, asking the financial advisor to make changes to their finances to allow their children access to their funds.



When Ngobeni woke up the next morning, around 6AM, she was surprised and thankful to be alive. Her husband spent two weeks in hospital, but also pulled through.



She says another thing she has learned through Covid-19 is that a life of tenders is not a sustainable way of doing business. As the MTN canteens had closed during the hard lockdown, there would have been no other sustainable form of income. Luckily, their retail business kept them afloat.



“People always need to eat,” she explains.



Rolling black outs, or ‘load shedding’, as it’s known in South Africa, has affected Ngobeni’s retail store. They had to buy a generator, and the price of diesel has increased, which has affected their profits.



“Load shedding is especially killing small businesses. I think that it does affect big businesses, but not at the scale at which it affects medium enterprises, like us.”



During the pandemic, as people lost jobs, she also increased her Corporate Social Investment efforts, buying sanitary pads and soccer kits for schools and supplying food every month to places they thought were in need.



“We can afford to share with other people who had nothing during that time, a practice that we are still continuing even now. Because for me, personally, when I give, I derive a certain joy that I cannot explain, so giving has become part of me.”



And the most important thing she realized running businesses?



“If you don&#8217;t have a team, it&#8217;s nothing. The most important and critical assets are your people, your employees, your team.”

Author: Lillian Roberts

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA