Sebastian Daniels’ Ground Culture is focused on bringing township entrepreneurs into the formal economy, helping bridge the gap in Cape Town with an online store and cafés stocked with products made locally by them.



WHAT happens when a 52-year-old beekeeper from the Khayelitsha township in Cape Town meets an entrepreneur born in 1994? Old school meets new energy and honey gets sold at 10 times the rate it used to, as the beekeeper is now connected to the formal market. This is what Sebastian Daniels does best, integrating the informal eKasi economy in Cape Town with mainstream market systems.



Daniels’ parents were both journalists and he had a good upbringing, also at times attending protests with his mom. This was the beginning of understanding how deeply segmented South African society was – and continues to be. Delving into history and Steve Biko, Daniels desired change.



First, he began working with the idea of creating a Stokvel app called Yethu, centered around the country’s famed Stokvel savings concept, where members contribute an amount regularly and receive a lump sum payment. It’s how many in the lower-income groups in South Africa save up for buying furniture, building houses or sending kids to school.



“People were so interested in what we had to offer. But what ended up happening is that we started building a system around the formal economy, and lost track of who our actual customer was in the end,” explains Daniels to FORBES AFRICA.



“When we launched people were like, ‘oh, we don’t want this, this is the bank’. You know, and that’s kind of really where you can start to like really see that the divide still exists, and that the informal economy operates in its own way that the formal sector doesn’t understand and doesn’t want to understand. The formal sector wants it done its own way.”



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Sebastian-Daniels-and-Siki-Dibela-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-55417" width="425" height="637"/><figcaption>Daniels and Siki Dibela</figcaption></figure></div>



Two and a half years ago, Daniels’ dad passed away after a battle with dementia. An accomplished writer, his dad wrote ‘Sunny Side Up’ breakfast reviews that featured in ‘Weekend Argus’ for years. He was familiar with most of the coffee places having done reviews of over 150 establishments.



Inheriting that public connect, Daniels too made a commitment to go into Khayelitsha once a week, in order to understand the informal sector better.



Since then, he has made many connections that have eventually led to successful collaborations, such as between Siyabonga Mbaba and George Kirkinis. Mbaba runs the event, Ghetto Sessions, and it resonated with Kirkinis, who found sponsors for the music festival.



“That’s one of the proudest connections I made because I wanted to take someone that I felt was cool, to something that I thought was cool. And through that, a whole lot of other stuff happened,” explains Daniels.



“And that’s the level of where we need to understand white privilege and that kind of thing. It’s so much more than meets the eye. And it’s so much less that you need to do sometimes than you think. It’s often just one connection, one bit of guidance. Help someone with a pitch or a plan. Small things. It’s much smaller than you think. [We] need to get rid of that negative stereotype,” Daniels adds.



In Khayelitsha, Daniels also met Lufefe Nomjana from Spinach King, Msokoli Zilani of Ubusi Honey and Sikelela Dibela from Siki’s Koffee Kafe.



Incorporating all their products, during the lockdown, Daniels developed Ground Culture, an online store for local goods focused on bringing township entrepreneurs into the formal sector. He started strong, with 100 orders a month, and many repeat orders.



Ground Culture reinvests 10% of profits into the businesses it works with. Daniels says it was successful in the start, but as lockdown restrictions eased, people went back to the shops.



“So that’s why we’ve now come back to the coffee shop to have physical space to kind of just build foundations, and share our sustainability.



“You know, people really want to support township entrepreneurs, there is just difficulty. It’s not accessible. Where do you find these products? Often they’re not consistently on shelves, so you go back and it’s out of stock,” Daniels explains.



One of the biggest success stories out of Khayelitsha is the gluten-free spinach bread from Spinach King. Ground Culture receives endless calls about the product, and it’s their number one selling product by far.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Sonwabo-Ngqumkile-Shelley-Cozijn-Sebastian-Daniels-Roscoe-Arendse-Tanashe-Ndubiwa-1-1024x683.png" alt="" class="wp-image-55418" width="703" height="469" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Sonwabo-Ngqumkile-Shelley-Cozijn-Sebastian-Daniels-Roscoe-Arendse-Tanashe-Ndubiwa-1-1024x683.png 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Sonwabo-Ngqumkile-Shelley-Cozijn-Sebastian-Daniels-Roscoe-Arendse-Tanashe-Ndubiwa-1-300x200.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Sonwabo-Ngqumkile-Shelley-Cozijn-Sebastian-Daniels-Roscoe-Arendse-Tanashe-Ndubiwa-1-768x512.png 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Sonwabo-Ngqumkile-Shelley-Cozijn-Sebastian-Daniels-Roscoe-Arendse-Tanashe-Ndubiwa-1-1536x1024.png 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Sonwabo-Ngqumkile-Shelley-Cozijn-Sebastian-Daniels-Roscoe-Arendse-Tanashe-Ndubiwa-1-2048x1366.png 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 703px) 100vw, 703px" /><figcaption>Local talent: Daniels with Sonwabo Ngqumkile, Shelley Cozijn, Roscoe Arendse and Tanashe Ndubiwa</figcaption></figure></div>



“People get really annoyed because it’s out of stock quite frequently. And this is, again, the logistical problems that exist working between the informal economy and the formal economy; sitting in a factory in Khayelitsha, and somehow figuring out delivery routes to get into the formal sector with a fresh loaf of bread every single day.”



He says the logistical problems include inventory tracking, invoicing and following up on them – these things are not necessarily inbuilt because the informal economy is predominantly a cash-based system.



“It’s cash on delivery. If you borrow money, you learn that the whole community knows about it. It operates in a very different manner. So the formal sector assumes entrepreneurs are going to act like normal entrepreneurs, but they’ve been ingrained with a different kind of upbringing.”



Ubusi Honey is the right example for Daniels for what he believes the formal sector can do for township business. In March 2019, he met Zilani, a beekeeper in Khayelitsha who was originally selling 25kg of honey a month in the township.



“It’s been a super-cool relationship to work with him, because we come from totally different backgrounds, and to compare our differences and be really open and honest [is] what makes the relationship work.”



Over the course of 10 months, they worked together to rebrand the product and supply coffee shops. After almost a year, Ubusi Honey sold 250kg a month.



Similarly, Siki’s Koffee Kafe is the place Daniels has based a lot of his thinking off, and what he calls home in Khayelitsha.



“It’s been amazing to watch his [Dibela’s] progress, because it’s taught me so much about building a business in the sense that, as an informal sector player, you have to build one little step at a time.”



Daniels says that while he is blessed that he can fall back on family, go to the bank or get a credit card loan, in the informal settlements, there’s little going around to back any idea.



Dibela has worked for six years, and is now getting another coffee shop in Claremont with big names like Cassper Nyovest popping by to buy his coffee.



Behind the Claremont coffee shop is a clothing factory that offered Dibela the front courtyard free of charge, until he’s in a financial situation to pay rent.



“That’s the kind of collaboration that we need to see between the informal and the formal sector. Not the formal sector setting stringent rules on the informal sector players 



that are just stepping into the game, just stepping into the market,” says Daniels.



A challenge that Dibela has faced is sourcing a roasting machine, and money for petrol to drive around to hand out samples between Khayelitsha and central Cape Town.



“Again, it’s access to markets. It’s just incredibly difficult, and the resources don’t exist to bridge that divide. And so that’s kind of what we need to be talking about and enabling – how do we make infrastructure that can allow for that to grow?”



Ground Culture is looking to be the first point to market for entrepreneurs that are testing out products, to get their foot in the door, and provide an income stream.



Ground Culture has a second café on Long Street in Cape Town, complete with local products, coffee, and food. They employ five people full-time and are looking for 30 new products for their online store.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Ubusi-Honey-Msokoli-Zilani-and-Sebastian-Daniels-1-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-55419" width="584" height="389" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Ubusi-Honey-Msokoli-Zilani-and-Sebastian-Daniels-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Ubusi-Honey-Msokoli-Zilani-and-Sebastian-Daniels-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Ubusi-Honey-Msokoli-Zilani-and-Sebastian-Daniels-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Ubusi-Honey-Msokoli-Zilani-and-Sebastian-Daniels-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Ubusi-Honey-Msokoli-Zilani-and-Sebastian-Daniels-1-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px" /><figcaption>Ubusi Honey’s Msokoli Zilani with Daniels</figcaption></figure></div>



Tied to their grant funding, 20 entrepreneurs who have been through training are going to be showcasing their items in the online store.



Speaking about the grueling effects of lockdown for all businesses, and the restrictions eventually lifting, Daniels says: “The kind of stuff we are starting to see is that people are very keen to do business. Now, a lot of people are tired and have resources. And then on the other side, there are people that don’t have any resources, but a lot of energy and good ideas.”



Sometimes all it takes to get them off the ground is a helping hand, or even a handshake.

Lufefe Nomjana and Sebastian Daniels 1

The Cape Town Entrepreneur Who Wants to Help Grow Businesses in The Informal Sector From The Ground Up

South African entrepreneur, author and award-winning businessman Dr Reuel Khoza on the adversities that spurred him and the benefits he sees in collaborative leadership.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“Leadership will only emerge through challenge.”</blockquote>



Distinguished businessman Dr Reuel Khoza strikes an initially unassuming impression; despite a CV and business history that includes a litany of high-profile chairman- and directorships, as well as an extensive academic background and awards, including most recently, the Lifetime Achievement Award at the All Africa Business Leaders Awards, his humble, questioning nature is demonstrative of his unique leadership style.



“There’s an old proverb,” says Khoza in an interview with FORBES AFRICA. “… if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”



The oft-repeated phrase nevertheless sums up Khoza’s approach to business and leadership, a philosophy he gained an awareness of from early childhood, where he and his cousins would alternate the days minding the family cattle so each child could take turns to attend school. Earmarked as a strong intellect by his father from a young age, he attended the University of Limpopo (then the University of the North) where he obtained a degree in psychology and taught introductory courses to junior students.   It was here that his first true brush with adversity occurred, which by chance spurred him into the world of business. As President of the University’s Psychology Society, Khoza had the opportunity to choose the theme of his term. “I decided on ‘decolonizing the African mind,’” says Khoza with a smile. “But it was the 70s… by the end of the year the authorities felt I was more of an agitator and they showed me the door.”



Unemployed for several months, Khoza took the first job he could out of necessity – a small position in the products department with Unilever. Never one to approach any task halfheartedly, he applied himself with vigor and soon obtained a scholarship to study further in the United Kingdom.



“I really landed in commerce by accident,” he says. “But being fired from the University was good for me… leadership will only emerge through challenge.”



Unilever was just the start of an illustrious career. From there he moved to Shell before branching off on his own, integrating the skills he had learned from both his psychological and business background into management consulting, executive training and strategic development. This work has seen him brought on to various major roles, including the chairman of Eskom at a time when it was named the global power company of the year in 2002 by the Financial Times.



Khoza looks back fondly upon these days gone by, and speaks with profundity about how collaborative leadership led to the successes of the state-owned-entity at the time. “I understand a little about how our electricity is generated,” he says, “But I am by no means an expert. It is the same with finance – I know a little, but am not an expert. I think of my job as to serve as a catalytic and coordinating agent,” he continues, laughing, “No pun intended.”



The ability to recognize and effectively manage talent is what Khoza credits with his success. Having been recognized by multiple awards for his contributions to business both locally and abroad, Khoza still renders assistance as the chairman of several boards. He notes with humor that he was Chancellor of the University of Limpopo for a time, the very University that fired him as a young man.



However, these days he spends the majority of his time on his avocado farm in in Hazyview, and writing his seventh book, a treatise on freedom and justice. “I guess there’s a sense that at age 72 I’ve done a little bit… I’ve made my little mark in business and governance,” says Khoza thoughtfully, “But if you can’t feed yourself, you have not really begun to live as a human being.”

Screenshot 2022-06-23 at 09.18.39

Why Being Fired From University Was Good For This Entrepreneur

Eritrean twins Feven and Helena Yohannes were born in a house made of mud, grass and sticks in a refugee camp in Africa. Today, their Los Angeles- based black-owned beauty business and cosmetics line is an Oprah favorite and during Covid-19, sales for 2.4.1 skyrocketed.



LOS ANGELES- based twins and beauty entrepreneurs Feven Yohannes and Helena Yohannes are no strangers to life’s struggles. In fact, struggles preceded their birth.



The story they have heard their parents often say is of their long months journeying from their home country Eritrea to Sudan as refugees in search of a better place during the uncertain years riddled by conflict in the eastern African country.



And along the way during this perilous trip, the twins were conceived.



What was this long walk like, they once asked their father.



“And my father said with that bright African smile, that it’s like walking from Los Angeles to San Francisco. He said ‘it took us a few months, but we got there’. That had such a profound impact on me,” says Feven.



Their father, a respected political leader who was a freedom fighter in the war between Eritrea and Ethiopia, embarked on the journey after sustaining injuries when his comrade stepped on a landmine.



It was a close call, and that was the first “miracle” for the family.



The second was the twins’ birth and survival.



Several mothers died during childbirth given the lack of proper healthcare in the refugee camps. Having twin babies was almost certainly seen as a death sentence. Initially, it was believed the girls’ mother was having “a big baby boy” because there was no technology on hand to discern the nature of the pregnancy.



“So, we were born in the camp. I came out first and then 15 minutes later, my sister came into the world. It was the biggest shock in the refugee camp&#8230;. Our house was made out of mud, grass and sticks,” recalls Feven of those early years.



After a while in the camp, their father decided there had to be a better life for the family and actively began to look for opportunities elsewhere. One serendipitous day, their mother overheard a conversation about the United States (US) Green Card lottery system and soon after, their next miracle began to unfold.



Helena offers a graphic description of that hot day in the African sun when things started to change: “So, our mother waited in the hot sun with twins in a queue that was almost a mile long and she sees a tree and walks over to the tree for shade. She sees a white guy who looked out of place standing by the tree but she wanted the shade. The white guy asked her ‘are these girls twins’ and my mum couldn’t understand English so someone explained it to her and my mother said ‘yes’ and she says that the man walked us all the way to the front of the queue because twins [were not known to] survive at the time. So, we were like a miracle in the camp.”



And that is when the family got their first big break. After winning the Green Card lottery that gave them the opportunity to immigrate to the US, the family relocated to Memphis before moving to Rochester, New York. Even though they were now finally on greener pastures, the struggle continued.



Their father worked as a janitor while their mother labored as a cleaner for the Presbyterian Church that had sponsored their American dream.



From those early days, they learned the power of family.



“My dad got his masters in Green Public Policy and my mother became a nurse and we always used our struggles as a way to motivate us. Our mum would work night shifts as our dad would go to school during the day and they would almost take turns building a family unit and really showing us what it looks like to have a healthy marriage and a healthy relationship. Our struggles were an opportunity to grow,” says Helena.



And that growth has led them from being political refugees to becoming hardcore businesswomen, creating 2·4·1 Cosmetics, a line of hypoallergenic lip and eye makeup, which made it to Oprah’s Favorite Things list in 2020.



The twins keep their Eritrean roots as a key philosophy in their new business. Product names like The Red Sea are all nods to their heritage.



“We initially chose 2.4.1 because growing up as twins, people would always ask us ‘are we two for one’? My father would have a look of confusion on his face. Then he said to us one day that ‘there is no discount on your self-worth, you are Feven and you are Helena’ and that lesson never left us. We still instill those lessons through our brand ethos and are blessed to have a father who is a feminist in a way,” says Feven.



The company was launched in 2019 after four years of incubation.



“We started looking at the beauty industry and how the people who are heavy-hitters and who are making the decisions about the kind of makeup we are wearing don’t really understand our experiences. They are making decisions not valuing us and more valuing the dollar,” says Helena.



The twins discovered along the way that ultimately the whole essence of beauty was giving women a sense of affirmation.



But no sooner did the brand launch than Covid-19 wreaked havoc across the world.



“The company was building up and gaining momentum. There was no PR team, it was just the two of us. Then, March 2020 and Covid hit,” says Feven.



Their product’s biggest competitors unexpectedly were toilet paper and hand sanitizers. Covid-19 restrictions meant that people were now wearing masks and beauty seemed to take a backseat. Luckily, the Black Lives Matter movement which gained global attention brought in some relief as consumers decided to actively seek out black-owned businesses to support.



“People decided we can vote with our dollars and decided to support us and we got media and press and decided to support us and we got media and press and we went from zero to sales of 600%,&#8221; says Feven.



From trying different entrepreneurial pursuits, ranging from a failed wedding app to a fledgling fashion and lifestyle blog, it seems the Yohannes twins have now finally found their calling.



And their past failures have taught them two invaluable lessons. First, about the power of execution. They use social media and storytelling to constantly engage with their loyal following who are growing daily.



Secondly, the power of believing enough in yourself to self-fund your own ideas. And the reason they had to go that route? “Funding is really hard for people of color; 0.2% of venture funding only goes to people of color. Investing in black women is really good business. When you look at the beauty landscape, we outspend by nine times more than non-black women but yet we are overlooked and overshadowed and that is ridiculous.



“We didn’t take the venture [capital] route, so we are 100% owned and we put our own money into the business. It’s okay to start small. We think the fastest way to get to where you are going is to start slow. We may not have all the funds but we have a loyal customer base,” says Feven.



The long-term goal after cracking the US market is to expand their beauty offering across Africa and give back to their motherland. They are shaping the beauty industry and new thinking for other entrepreneurs too on the cusp of change.

Screenshot 2022-06-21 at 15.17.21

Two’s Company: The Eritrean Twins Shaping The Beauty Industry

With more demand for e-mobility options in recent times, a South African startup is now driving e-bikes as a game-changer in the delivery industry.



MOTORBIKES ARE UBIQUITOUS IN AFRICA, weaving through traffic as a mandatory motif in the continent’s bustling bazaars and raucous streets.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/20220519_230434-782x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-55327" width="368" height="482" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/20220519_230434-782x1024.jpg 782w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/20220519_230434-229x300.jpg 229w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/20220519_230434-768x1005.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/20220519_230434-1173x1536.jpg 1173w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/20220519_230434-1565x2048.jpg 1565w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/20220519_230434-scaled.jpg 1956w" sizes="(max-width: 368px) 100vw, 368px" /><figcaption>Warrick Ross, Director of Green Riders</figcaption></figure></div>



Consider the boda bodas of Kenya or the moto-taxis in Rwanda, and with the pandemic, the spurt witnessed in the number of professional delivery services, and sadly, with that, bike accidents too. In South Africa, Reuters reported a 30% jump in food courier-related accidents when lockdown restrictions slightly eased in mid-2020. Most online applications that offer food delivery services reportedly consider drivers as contractors and not employees, so they are not eligible for sick leave; they pay for their own bikes and helmets, and the insurance schemes offered often do not provide adequate protection, if they are offered at all.



But what if there was an alternative to the costly and dangerous way to deliver food in the gig economy?



It’s an e-bike, a 52MM high torque motor with a 1970WH dual battery that can go 90km-150km before needing another plug-in to charge. Sticking to current regulations, it goes 25kph.



If the right infrastructure, such as proper bike and bicycle lanes, comes into effect in Africa, e-bikes could be a game-changer – and not just for delivery workers.



Green Riders is one such brand.



If it runs out of juice, you don’t have to push it to a service center; trundle on until you find a power source. A ViziCube display on the back can play adverts – akin to outdoor advertising – creating another source of income for the drivers.



Warrick Ross, the Director of Green Riders, says about this feature: “Not only is this good for commercials, allowing for delivery riders that cannot rely only on the margins of delivery – that 12 rand, that 15 rand ($0.7/$0.9) – to make it sustainable. And this is why we think we’ve cracked it on the sustainability side.”



Not using petrol also significantly lessens driver costs, so it’s win-win.



“We are looking at focusing on activations as well. And because deliveries are done in a peak period, at lunchtime, and then at dinnertime. In the morning, there’s not much happening. So we could be doing an activation for a company; everybody lined up on the beach front, and everybody can earn a share of that activation fee for that day.



“And they’ve already, so trying to get creative on how these guys can earn, and 



how we can maximize this whole commercial model,” Ross adds. Green Riders, initially called Pathway Cycles, has been in the process of rebranding as well as expanding into different



e-vehicles. This comes after a Series A fundraising. The startup was commercially launched in South Africa in



2020 by Craig Atkinson and Trevor Wentworth, with Ross as Director, tapping into the need for eco-friendly modes of transport in Cape Town as well as the new reliance on motorbike deliveries.



Ross says the demand for e-mobility options has shot through the roof, and there’s a real willingness to try it.



Green Riders currently employs 84 people. Working with big names like Bolt Food, RocoMamas, Midas, Roman’s Pizza, KFC and Waterfall City, they recently signed a contract to send 180 e-bikes to a company called eBee in Kenya, and have a partnership with another company in Morocco.



“I couldn’t overstress the love we have for Africa, as South Africans. So definitely, Africa is a core focus. And it’s also where the biggest opportunity happens to be. That’s just a blessed alignment.”



Ross and Atkinson stayed nearyby in the same complex and both quit their full-time jobs to pursue e-mobility options in South Africa. Ross says his co-founder Atkinson is the visionary, while he’s the numbers guy and director of operations the rest of the time.



It’s been a roller-coaster since they started.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Screenshot-2022-06-13-at-16.12.53-1024x917.png" alt="" class="wp-image-55326" width="552" height="494" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Screenshot-2022-06-13-at-16.12.53-1024x917.png 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Screenshot-2022-06-13-at-16.12.53-300x269.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Screenshot-2022-06-13-at-16.12.53-768x687.png 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Screenshot-2022-06-13-at-16.12.53.png 1106w" sizes="(max-width: 552px) 100vw, 552px" /></figure></div>



Beyond Cape Town, Ross adds it will take five to 10 years to get the infrastructure for e-vehicles right in South Africa.



“It’s a national move that the country is [going] towards, and it’s just going to be a slow process. It’s not just for us, I mean, this needs to happen. And we are just all blessed to be a part of the consultation process.”



The regulations around e-bikes means it lowers the barriers of entry for riders and therefore opens up opportunities for employment, because you don’t need a driver’s license.



WhileyouhavetolearntherulesoftheroadwithGreenRiders, it’s still faster and easier, says Ross.



“And obviously that then feeds into the petrol price. Because even if you do go through the whole process and the cost of getting a motorbike, and your motorbike license, you’re not paying 50 to 



100 rand per day on petrol ($3-$6). This is a very ugly industry, in that the driver gets squeezed; the aggregator is always going to charge the maximum fees possible.”



Core to Green Riders is not just making a difference to the planet, but to its people.



“We insure all our e-bikes for the riders that don’t insure it. And when you have a certain number of bikes in your policy, it’s actually not that expensive. You get that economy of scale.”



He adds that it’s just the right thing to do, for human safety and long-term viability.



According to Ross, they have sourced the best batteries in the market, for the longest life on the road.



Green Riders has partnered with accreditation facilitators and are in talks with others, as hosting providers for learnerships.



Ross explains that after this, there’s still need for upward mobility. Recruiting individuals and access to a market is where they want to come in, to provide an e-bike that can be paid off at a rate the banks approve. He explains that this is a way for self-reliance, as they can acquire a bike, pay it off, and perhaps buy another one.



The workshops for the drivers can be in administration or technical applications like bike assembling.



“So it’s not mandatory, but we find the people who want to do more, asked to learn more, and then they’re able to do more and are able to learn more. So it’s just the right cycle.”



Another benefit to the workers is that Green Riders has created an integrated management system for accepting orders, so riders don’t have to minimize each app they get an order from, and can streamline their acceptance of orders. This can improve their key performance indicators. 



An integrated management system also benefits restaurants, because they have one tablet that they can accept orders from, instead of multiple devices, ringing often at the same time.



“And they don’t speak to one another so you end up having delays on your food. So it’s also good for the restaurant. And we found a lot of interest in this.”



The service has been going through development for months. Ross says April 1 saw the restaurant Ciao Pizza and another called The Charcoal Oven and Grill in Cape Townutilizethesystemwithgreatsuccess. Another bonus for the riders – a full charge on an e-bike to travel 90km-150km costs only R5.24 of electricity. That’s less than $1. It costs approximately $24 (R384) to go the same distance with petrol.

Screenshot 2022-06-13 at 16.12.12

Driving Power: E-Bikes In Africa’s Food Delivery Industry

Topline&nbsp;&nbsp;



With higher fuel prices driven by international shortages, a weaker Rand and years of excessive levy increases, reports are that the government in South Africa is set to announce further interventions on the petrol price as the country faces a potential record hike of R4 ($0.25) per liter on Wednesday, June 1.&nbsp;



Key Facts&nbsp;



The anti-corruption advocacy non-profit, The Organization Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA), has called for South Africa’s Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana to extend the R1.50 ($0.09) per liter temporary reduction of the general fuel levy beyond May 31.&nbsp;



“With this temporary fuel levy reduction of R1.50 intended to be reversed on May 31, we have asked the Finance Minister to consider the extension of this reprieve, failing which the price of petrol and diesel will increase to over R25 ($1.61) per liter in the coming months,” says OUTA CEO Wayne Duvenage.&nbsp;



In the lead up to tomorrow’s petrol price hike, the South African Petroleum Industry Association (SAPIA) hosted a media round table to explain the mechanics of how fuel prices are determined and what influences the cost at the pump for consumers. &nbsp;



In SAPIA’s statement, they stated that the fuel price in South Africa is regulated by the government and fuel price adjustments are effective on the first Wednesday of the month. The calculation of the new price is done by the Central Energy Fund (CEF) on behalf of the DMRE.&nbsp;



“The external factors move constantly and account for most of the monthly movements in prices and are outside the control of the industry,” SAPIA stated. “Movements in the Rand-based elements which are the internal factors, are subject to government control. The overriding rationale for the control of prices and margins should be to ensure that the various stakeholders in the industry earn fair returns. The returns should be sufficient to encourage investment in the industry, while not being such as to represent over-reward.”&nbsp;



In the open letter, OUTA has stated that by extending this reprieve, there is a possibility that Treasury could be set to lose around R2.8 billion ($181 million) per month. However, the organization says that they are sure the negative impact to the economy and Treasury will be significantly worse-off with petrol prices above the R25 per liter mark; “furthermore, we believe that situations of this nature provide you with an opportunity to put the people first.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



South Africa introduced the temporary R1.50 per liter relief for April and May with the hope that global energy prices would stabilize and that the two months would create enough of a buffer for local petrol prices to reduce at a more normalized rate.&nbsp;



According to <a href="https://businesstech.co.za/news/energy/591394/government-expected-to-intervene-on-petrol-prices-in-south-africa-finance-minister/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Business Tech</a>, however, crude has remained stubbornly high – above $120 per barrel – largely due to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.&nbsp;



Crucial Quote&nbsp;



“The high fuel price has an ongoing negative effect on the economy, affecting a wide range of issues such as food prices and commuter costs,” OUTA said in their statement. “&#8230;the fuel levy reprieve in place for a longer period provides the Minister with an opportunity to seek greater public sector savings and encourage prudent spending habits.”&nbsp;



This is a developing story

RC172B548A50

More Speed Bumps Ahead As Unprecedented Petrol Price Hike Looms For South African Consumers From June 

Through her new luxury game lodge in Zimbabwe, Vimbai Masiyiwa, the daughter of billionaire businessman Strive Masiyiwa, hopes to empower and bring change to local communities.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“I think nature has a special way of helping us heal and recover, helping us reflect and refresh.”</blockquote>



Vimbai Masiyiwa may be a billionaire’s daughter but is creating her own niche.



And that niche is a newly-refurbished luxury game lodge at the Zambezi National Park in Zimbabwe where the 27-year-old businesswoman says she will be using “hospitality and tourism as a catalyst for social change and local economic growth”.



“Just before the pandemic started, we ended up making a decision that we wanted to create a new brand of lodges, which we&#8217;ve now called Batoka Lodges – really as a social business,” adds the second eldest daughter of Zimbabwean tech tycoon and founder of Econet, Strive Masiyiwa.



With a BSc in Computer Information Systems from Bryant University, and a Master’s in Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurship studies from University College London, Vimbai joined the board in 2017 when the family invested in a hospitality group. She put together a proposal for what they could do for tourism in the famed Victoria Falls, one of the world’s largest waterfalls located on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe.



In an interview with FORBES AFRICA, as director of the Batoka Zambezi Sands River Lodge, she talks about how each suite at the lodge will have a view of the Zambezi River, the fourth-longest river in Africa. Later this year, she is also set to launch the four-star Batoka Gorges and Little Lodge close to Victoria Falls.



But she also talks at length about community collaboration, women-led businesses and accessibility of mental health services. A lot of this stems from her own experience as a cancer survivor, when she had to take a year off studies for treatment. Vimbai is also focused on reducing the stigma around mental health.



“I&#8217;m very open about my own journey with mental health. And I think having experienced things such as clinical depression, and seeing how Africans, whether family members or friends, reacted and responded, it was quite an interesting experience. And also showed just the lack of understanding around mental health, which is why I started doing some of the work I do on the side,” she explains.



“As the pandemic has lasted for over two years now, we see it even more, particularly in young people, and resources are scarce for care for mental health and lobbying.”



At the lodges, she is looking to incorporate wellbeing programs for staff, and rebrand mental health challenges in a way that people understand.



“And then from the guests’ point of view, I think our properties can serve as a sanctuary for people who are looking to take a break, and have a change of scenery. I think nature has a special way of helping us heal and recover, helping us reflect and refresh.”



As a part of the plan to foster partnership and employment opportunities, food will be locally sourced, as also some of the décor, taking into account local tribes and ethnic groups such as Tsonga and Ndebele.



The lodges will use shea butter products from R&amp;R Luxury founded by her friend Valerie Obaze.



“We&#8217;ve also worked with Petalilli Tea, which is a tea brand in Zimbabwe. [Peta Searle] is a local female tea farmer. And through our collaboration with her, we created a very special blend, called the Batoka blend, which incorporates ingredients that you find in our local area.”



The tea brand uses biodegradable packaging, as the lodge does not support single-use plastic.



“So I think we&#8217;ve looked a lot at working with not only local, as in Zimbabwean, but African brands. Then to take it a step further, we also look at the community as our partner. You know, we are a part of the communities that we exist in.”



What has also been stimulating for Vimbai has been listening to the staff. For example, one of the pastry chefs, Sicelo, pointed her attention to drug abuse and alcohol addiction among the local children leading to them dropping out of school.



“There is so much to learn when we have open conversations with each other,” says Vimbai, even as she opens the doors for business.



The main challenge she has experienced is running the operation with a large staff complement, as the cultural norm is not to have a young female leader, she explains.



“Those are the kind of challenges that I guess the old guard does not face. Everybody listens to a strong male voice. So, it&#8217;s been an interesting learning curve, but I&#8217;m really enjoying it. And I hope more women will want to take on some of these challenging positions in male-dominated industries.”



A central issue also is making luxury safari lodges more accessible to Africans. One of the ways she is trying to achieve that is with “slightly lower price points” than most luxury properties in sub-Saharan Africa.



“That is primarily to make sure that African travelers also get to experience the wildlife experience in a very comfortable way. And not only seeing it on social media or advertisements. So that&#8217;s something that we were very passionate about as an organization,” she concludes.

2 – Vimbai Masiyiwa

‘A Social Business’: Uplifting Zimbabwe’s Communities A Priority For Vimbai Masiyiwa

Ghanaian entrepreneur Gwyneth Addo went from crunching numbers at a bank to counting on her customers with a successful hair brand catering to the affluent.



Entrepreneurship, it seems, comes naturally to Gwyneth Addo. It’s in her genes.



Her father was one of the first entrepreneurs to start selling media and entertainment gadgets and used goods in Ghana. And Addo started early, watching and learning. Her dad once even helped her bag powdered milk into sachets and sell to her friends.



“He was always an innovator and trailblazer who changed the way I looked at things from an early age,” says Addo, speaking to FORBES AFRICA.



Her mother was also a trader in one of Ghana’s most popular markets, Makola. Every holiday, Addo and her six brothers would take turns opening and closing the shop and serving clients.



“Most of my character traits were picked up from my mum. We learned about customer service in Makola and how to deal with different customer characters,” recalls Addo.



Little did she know that training would pave the way for her to create her own entity, Hair Senta, one of the most sought-after hair brands in Ghana, and deal with myriad customers herself. &nbsp;



Hair has traditionally been associated with social status in Ghana. Africa’s hair market was estimated to be worth a staggering $6 billion back in 2014, according to Reuters. And Addo, like most players in this sector, has banked on the growth. &nbsp;



“Hair is a booming market in Ghana now but it has not always been like this. Weaves and extensions have become popular I would say over the past decade as more and more Chinese products have begun to invade the local market,” offers Josephine Boateng, a beauty consultant in Ghana and a customer at Hair Senta.



But before Addo would find her love for all things weaves and extensions, her professional journey took her into the world of banking – a far cry from the career of an air hostess she had always wanted as a young girl.



“I wanted to travel the world and explore and I loved how they looked in their uniforms. I majored in philosophy at the University of Ghana and then got an MBA with CEIBS (China Europe International Business School) but I found myself in banking and loved it,” says Addo.



Here, she began laying the foundation for what would give her a competitive advantage. She picked up the importance of customer service and how to deal with people without being intimidated.



“That helped me to get a different way of running my business. I didn’t learn how to sell hair from the bank but I learned how to serve. And that helped me when I transitioned into my calling. I don’t call it a business, I call it my calling.”



And that calling, according to Addo, is to serve women. To realize her dream, however, Addo would go through some very trying times. Firstly, she had decided the best way to serve was to provide quality hair products. However, she ran into issues where a lot of people were buying her products on credit and not paying back leading to serious cash flow problems.



“The hair was out there but there was no money to account for it. Something had to change.”



She drew on the early years working with her mother at Makola market for ideas.



“We were there when she started her little business but we knew the challenges that she was going through. So, it made me respect humble beginnings and understand that even though I am not making money now, I see an opportunity.”



But if only life was as simple.



“When I left the bank, I was embarrassed because things didn’t work out as I thought. I had to lie to my friends to say everything was ok but deep down, I was suffering. I traveled to China to buy machines because I wanted to prove to people that I could do it in a big way. I wanted to show off and let my colleagues at the bank feel like they are still working for other people but I had branched out and was following my entrepreneurial dreams. But I realized it is a process.”



And Addo decided she would trust that process. In order for her to achieve the sales figures she wanted, she knew something more had to be done. She began to notice an interesting trend in the hair business in Ghana at the time.



“I realized there were a lot of people bringing in hair but nobody had sat down to brand it. So, they had no name, logos or any kind of solid branding or identity that made them easily recognizable.”



Addo spotted the gap in the market and set her eyes on it.&nbsp;



“I always talk about the gap and need philosophy. People talk about starting a business because there is a gap, but the gap and the need must align.”



And align they did. Addo decided to create a brand name and logo for her products. Hair Senta was born and the brand would be known for its quality hair.



“We chose to be different because we had a global agenda all along. We focused on building the brand from day one. It was all about the logos, our brand colors etc. We were not interested in just selling the hair and making a quick buck.”



She started with virgin hair, which had the market perception of being too expensive.



“Instead of making the business about what the client wanted, I was more interested in what I wanted and for five years we did not grow, until we decided to listen to our customers and then everything changed. I made the mistake of making the business about me.”



The next thing she did was to get her products to her consumer. Addo would step out of her shop and physically meet people to makes the crucial sales pitch.



“We assumed that just because we were in an [affluent] area, it was going to be good but we were in for a surprise. People need hair, yes. Do they need good hair? Yes, but they needed something they could rely on and something they were confident in.”



The stars finally aligned when Addo decided to listen to her target audience.



“Imagine recording zero sales week after week and there is no single buyer and then one day people just queue up in your store and come the night before just to buy your products because we decided to listen to our customers,” says Addo.



“I spend on average GHC5,000 ($680) a month at Hair Senta because they are consistent with their products unlike other suppliers,” says Boateng.



Addo’s newly-refurbished flagship store in Ghana’s upmarket East Legon area caters to clients not just in the region but also in the Ukraine, United States and United Kingdom.

IMG_1573

Crowning Glory: Rooting For Ghana’s Booming Wigs And Hair Extensions Market 

Momoko Harada is turning macadamia nuts in Rwanda’s verdant, virgin fields into valuable export currency, in turn also helping the farmers and protecting the environment.



WORDS AND PHOTOS BY RIDHIMA SHUKLA



AT A FACTORY farm, about a 45-minute drive east of the Kigali city center in Rwanda, is a modern facility where the world’s most expensive edible nut – macadamia – is being laboriously processed.



The delightfully round nuts dangle off dainty trees – some the height of a Sports Utility Vehicle – overlooking the valley and are picked by the farmers as they drop to the ground.



Momoko Harada, the 41-year- old Managing Director of the Rwanda Nut Company, is often among the farmers, overseeing their rich, daily pickings.



The mother of two with a keen eye for detail turns around and points out to us: “It takes 15 years for a macadamia tree to grow to this puny size, it takes a lot of patience and discipline in the farmer to not pluck them right off the branch.”



Native to Australia, the macadamia nut’s demand has grown consistently among the world’s richest and discerning consumer markets. Kenya and South Africa are among the top exporters of the golden nut. Rwanda too has now joined the race for growing and exporting this prized natural commodity.



This is in line with the land- locked country’s strategy to diversify its crop exports beyond coffee and tea in ways that are sustainable and expandable.



Unlike other nations in the race, Rwanda’s weather conditions favor macadamia farming, allowing yields around the year as compared to only seasonal harvests. This realization led to the introduction of the crop to farmers of all scales by the leadership of the nation along with NGOs and the World Bank in 2004.



It was only in 2012 that the first matured nuts started falling to the ground. But in the absence of processing units, they were not ready for the world’s markets that only consumed it in its processed form.



This is when Rwanda began working towards the future. Funded by multiple investors from Japan, the Rwanda Nut Company was established in 2013.



The company has grown significantly whilst holding on tightly to its values and aspirations under the leadership of Harada who came down from Japan to kick-start this infant 



industry almost a decade ago and has not looked back since.



However, her history with Africa predates her relationship with macadamia nuts.



She fondly reminisces her first time on the continent at the age of 19, on holiday with her mother; a single woman who she commends for her commitment and dedication to giving Harada all the opportunities she never had.



Harada says: “I had seen poverty before, I knew poverty! But, what I saw in East Africa was more than that. Despite being impoverished, the people of East Africa were full of aspiration and with the desire for changing things.”



She traveled around East Africa and decided she would learn more about the region and return to develop a deeper relationship with this land rich with friendly people and ripe with untapped opportunities.



After completing a degree in law and spending three years working in the human resources department of a company in Tokyo, she went on to study economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.



“I always wanted to learn about East Africa. People are aging in Japan and are very protective of their ways. In East Africa, people have open minds and the readiness to take risks,” she says.



As the woman behind setting up one of the first macadamia processing plants, establishing an export market for fine quality organic Rwandan produce and running a company of 350 employees, Harada has come a long way from when the Rwanda Nut Company was all but a few farmers and consultants.



Today, the company works with over 1,200 farmers with farms as big as a hectare to those that have a single tree in their backyard. Harada says the company’s policy is to promote inclusivity and growth in the agriculture community – something she feels strongly about, having had a taste of struggle in her early years in Japan.



“I have first-hand experience of having less; we lived in a 10/10 house and shared a community shower. The idea was never to invest simply for monetary gains but to make an impact by creating a sustainable business and providing a living through jobs.”



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="518" height="454" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Screenshot-2022-05-09-at-14.35.47.png" alt="" class="wp-image-55046" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Screenshot-2022-05-09-at-14.35.47.png 518w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Screenshot-2022-05-09-at-14.35.47-300x263.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 518px) 100vw, 518px" /></figure></div>



The global demand for macadamia nuts outweighs the supply which makes Rwanda’s move to upgrade its export crop list with the nut promising.



However, the country’s lateness to the market marks another challenge for producers like Harada.



In 2021, Rwanda exported around 600 tonnes of macadamia, which reportedly takes Kenya only two days to produce, package and sell and South Africa less than six hours.



China is planting the nut at a massive rate and within the next decade, could likely become one of the biggest suppliers of 



macadamia, posing an even bigger challenge to smaller producers. The United States, China, Japan and Germany are the biggest



buyers of the nut and so far, the Rwanda Nut Company only supplies to North American markets.



But despite the low volumes, Harada says her company is working with agronomists and quality controllers, and has developed a personal rapport with the farmers to ensure a specialty product for wealthy consumers around the world.



“There is no international grading system for macadamia; every producer sells their product under their own brand definition without strict quality control. The grading system in coffee and cocoa has allowed producers to capture markets and sustain long periods because of set expectations among buyers,” says Harada.



She is inclined to replicate a grading system for the industry, based on the produce’s oil content, moisture and freshness.



She asserts that her factory not only complies with the North American processed food standards but controls the quality of production across its entire value chain.



The company is currently expanding its processing facility to build capacity.



“We are growing; even in the face of the pandemic and a competitive market, the demand is still high. We are looking to rebrand our product as specialty food grown in the virgin fields of Rwanda with only organic practices, farmed under fair trade laws, and exceptional quality control for our refined consumer,” attests Harada.



The efforts are also ecological-friendly.



“We are working towards being zero waste and are fully circular in our business. Our husk is used by farmers as a fertilizer; the shell is used in our kilns for its caloric value and later turned into charcoal for farmers to take back to their village.”



The global macadamia nut market was valued at $1.31 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow up to $3 billion by 2030 (Grand View Research).



Although a small part of the pie, Rwanda is aiming for the highest hanging fruit in this sector, going by the long-term vision and commitment of its female business leaders such as Harada.

Screenshot 2022-05-09 at 14.35.40

Seed Capital: Turning Macadamia Into Currency In Rwanda￼

Tanzania-born Franck Leya, the co-founder and Managing Director of Honest Travel Experience in South Africa, has had an interesting journey and is now working towards getting people to experience the continent on solar-powered scooters.



BY NAFISA AKABOR



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">I was not a fan of how tourism was being done in the inner city because a lot of what people were consuming was poverty porn, which is showing people a bad side of something while you capitalize&#8230;</blockquote>



FRANCK LEYA’S FIRST TRAVEL EXPERIENCE BEGAN in the late 1990s as a refugee who had to flee the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) out of fear that his father, a political journalist, would be executed.



“My passion for travel pretty much started as an immigrant. After my dad was charged with treason, we began migrating to African countries depending on the diplomatic relationships the countries had,” says Leya to FORBES AFRICA.



A Congolese born in Tanzania, Leya had to travel by bus and foot over the years, having lived in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Angola, before reaching his final stop: Johannesburg.



“When we arrived in South Africa, it was different because my dad had gotten asylum. The laws here were different when compared to other African countries,” says Leya. “My love for storytelling began because I migrated so much that everywhere I went, I had all these cool stories I wanted to share.”



Growing up in Johannesburg, his mother warned him to be aware of certain places and buildings, says Leya.



“As much as the inner city was considered ‘dangerous’, it was the only place I could call home due to its diversity and acceptance of all people.”



Walking distance from his home was the iconic Ponte Tower, which he refers to as ‘The United States of Africa’.



“I was constantly reminded that if I don’t do well, I’ll end up in that building. At the time, the building was a symbol of failure,” says Leya.



“Curiosity led me to move into this building later on, which gave me the opportunity to challenge people’s perception about my neighborhood and to expose them to the beauty of the inner city,” he says.



Leya eventually won a scholarship to attend St. John’s College in Johannesburg, where he used to sneak his friends out of rugby festivals to give them tours of Yeoville and when the demand grew, he began charging for it. “The first tour I ran was in 2013, I took a group of college boys for a Yeoville nightlife experience.”



While studying Economics and Ecometrics through Unisa, Leya met his mentor at Ernst &amp; Young, who had started a tourism company called Dlala Nje. He was employed as a tour guide, while living at Ponte City.



“I was not a fan of how tourism was being done in the inner city because a lot of what people were consuming was poverty porn, which is showing people a bad side of something while you capitalize and make money from it,” he says. “Essentially what was being sold was my reality. I felt like it could be done better. This is what inspired my brand.”



Leya worked at Dlala Nje for five years but after graduating, started his tour company, Honest Travel Experience. It has been operating since January 2019, with experiences offered in Cape Town, Durban, and Johannesburg. It includes walking, bike and electric scooter tours that cover food, history, graffiti, nightlife, arts, and markets.



He credits Airbnb Experiences with helping him grow, which eventually brought in bookings daily for this Johannesburg nightlife tour.



As a fan of technology, he began offering virtual tours before Covid hit, which subsequently turned into Zoom tours, silent discos and hosting international guests through online forums during lockdown.



“The pandemic took our 10-year plan to two years, we were already equipped for these instances, like reaching international schools to give them an African experience without actually being here.”



“When we read the Covid protocols, they fit in with our checklists like social distancing, smaller groups, and being outdoors. We’ve always been considerate of two things: the planet and the people. A lot of people who buy our products are conscious travelers.”



The right circumstances led Honest Travel Experience to offer e-scooter tours through a partner.



“It allowed us to make an impact quicker on a traveler that had very little time in Johannesburg. It has now evolved into something beyond us.”



Leya and his business partners decided to cut out the middleman and use their last bit of funds to invest in their own fleet of e-scooters to keep tours affordable and accessible. The company owns 58 scooters.



“We are in the second stage of launching and getting more investors to come on board so that we can launch the e-scooters as a short distance travel model in Johannesburg.



“We are also looking at ways to make the scooters solar powered. E-scooters could revolutionize how people view short distance travel within Africa, which is ideally where we’d like to branch out to.



“It was a strategic decision we made to pursue this idea of moving into transportation. That money could have done wonders for our business in the travel space, but I genuinely believe this is the new way. E-scooters on the African continent will get people thinking differently.”



Leya is confident that the company will receive their first sample of a solar-powered scooter by June 2022. “The goal after that is to mass-produce it and get it to the rest of Africa.”



Honest Travel facilitates tours using hosts but partners with locals in each city for authentic experiences. “It’s always been a partnership for us, we don’t compete with each other. We create jobs within the local communities that we operate in.



“I believe I can use tourism as a catalyst for building communities and changing the narrative of this beautiful continent through a fair trade between visitors and communities.”

Screenshot 2022-05-02 at 08.57.24

The Itinerant African Entrepreneur On A Solar Scooter

Alexander Amosu is working with Africa’s wealthiest and aiming to put the continent on the map as one of the top luxury destinations of the world.&nbsp;



For as long as he can remember, Alexander Amosu knew he wanted to be rich. Perhaps it had something to do with sleeping on the floor in the sitting room of a two-bedroom council flat with his grandmother in Kilburn, United Kingdom (UK), or hearing his drunk neighbor beat his wife or maybe seeing needles of heroin addicts all over the floor when he returned home from school.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“It was just a dump. All I wanted to know is ‘what did I need to do to get out of this situation’?” recalls Amosu.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Maybe it was all of the above. Today, that teenager is one of the prominent faces in the African luxury industry. Based in the UK, Amosu is the founder of Lux Afrique, a multimedia platform for marketing and promoting luxury brands targeting audiences on the African continent.&nbsp;&nbsp;



A far cry from his poverty days, Amosu is using Lux Afrique to be the driving partner of any luxury brand entering the African market and introducing it to the high net worth consumer markets. The journey to run away from the days of struggle has been a long and arduous one, filled with serendipitous opportunities for Amosu. At the age of 12, Amosu had already started his first business venture, a fledgling paper run.&nbsp;



“I woke up at 6AM in the morning and delivered about 100 newspapers in the estate that we lived in and I did that for seven days and the owner of the shop would give me £10 and I saved up for four weeks and I was able to buy my first Nike Air Max bubble trainers.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“I remember going to school that day and nobody before that day would communicate with me or hang around with me but when I walked in with those shoes, I was the topic of conversation. That day was the moment I realized that if I wanted to make a difference in life then I have to work hard and be rich and that was the catalyst,” avers Amosu.&nbsp;



By the time he was in university, he stumbled on what was to become his biggest money-maker yet – ringtones.&nbsp;



“I was able to buy my first mobile phone and, on the phone, you could create a ringtone. After two or three hours I was able to create a particular ringtone which was Big Pimpin’ by Jay Z. So, my brother heard it and said ‘can I take it to school to show my friend’. So, he took it to school and he came back with 21 people all saying ‘can I program the ringtone on their phone’,” says Amosu.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The entrepreneur in him kicked in. He decided to charge £1 to each of the 21 new customers netting him £21. Then the light bulb went on. After some research into the ringtones market, Amosu discovered that there were no all-black ringtone companies in the UK at the time dedicated to the RnB or Hip-Hop genre. The companies at the time were only doing pop and rock ringtones and so he decided to be the first to service that market.&nbsp;



“We launched the ringtone on the back of a flier I was promoting at university. Within three months we had enough money to open two offices in Islington and I was employing 21 staff. Within a year we turned over £1.6 million and within three years the turnover was just under £9.6 million,” avers Amosu.&nbsp;



He sold the business for £10 million when the ringtone market got saturated. Next up, he decided to venture into the luxury customization business.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“So, I took an iPhone and sold it for £20,000. People thought I was crazy because they asked why would I sell a phone that cost £600 for £20,000,” says Amosu.&nbsp;



He managed that feat by putting diamonds around the front of the phone and adding a luxury concierge service. The success of that business led to the customization of other brands like Blackberry and Motorola. His diamond-encrusted phones became the hottest luxury accessory for top UK celebrities such as David Beckham and Naomi Campbell. Not satisfied with his ground-breaking luxury accessory business, Amosu decided to follow another passion, this time to conquer the world of fashion by creating the world’s most expensive suit.&nbsp;



“They looked at me like I was crazy again. I explained that if you were going to create something there is no point being like every fish in the pond, nobody is going to be able to distinguish who you are.”&nbsp;



To stand out, Amosu went on a search to find the three most expensive fabrics in the world and went a step further to embellish the materials with 22 carat gold pinstripes. The suit cost a whopping £70,000 and went on to win the Guinness World Records.&nbsp;



The next stop? To bring luxury brand ownership to Africa.&nbsp;



“So, I decided to set up Lux Afrique so I could show luxury brands that we had ultra-high net worth [people] across different parts of Africa willing to buy their products.”&nbsp;



Lux Afrique was launched five years ago; you need to earn upwards of £1 million per year to be a part of the brand’s concierge service. And so far, Amosu says he has 500 of Africa’s wealthiest elite on board.&nbsp;



Lux Afrique’s motto is to celebrate African culture and put Africa on the map as one of the top luxury destinations of the world. This led to the birth of the events side of the business with a focus on creating luxury events from an African perspective on the same level as the world’s top events like Formula One.&nbsp;



“We created Lux Afrique polo day. Nobody knows that people play polo naturally in Africa. So, we created an event which is now in its fourth year where we celebrate African polo players and we have our high net worth clients as well as luxury brands together,” says Amosu.&nbsp;&nbsp;



For Amosu, the goal is very clear.&nbsp;



“I want to disrupt the narrative of thinking [that] Africa is all about flies and starvation.”&nbsp;

Alex Amosu1

The Road To Luxury, Riches And A £70,000 Suit 

On the highway of accounting, few take the off-ramp into social entrepreneurship with as much dynamism as Rowan Spazzoli.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



Rowan Spazzoli’s latest initiative is Accendio, a consulting agency developing passionate entrepreneurs with bright ideas and projects with potential in sub-Saharan Africa. FORBES AFRICA takes a look at how he got to where he is today.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Background</h2>



He started out studying accounting. By his third year, Spazzoli was unhappy and at a loss with what do with his life.



Now, he spends his days and nights breathing life into people’s ideas, and wouldn’t have it any other way.



The story starts when he joined the SHAWCO Siyaya Social Entrepreneurship Initiative in 2013, training entrepreneurs in the township in book-keeping and accounting.



Spazzoli became the co-founder of Phaphama SEDI, which brought Siyaya under its wing. It’s his favorite endeavor by far, and he still sits on the board.



In the last seven years they’ve helped about 140 businesses, and 500 pupils have done the program. They thought students would help entrepreneurs, but in turn, it develops the students. Phaphama creates conscious learners, thinking beyond their own bubble.



“Every year they go find 20 entrepreneurs, they bring 60 or 70 students. And these students who are all in their final year will spend every Saturday of the month — which is a big commitment — helping these entrepreneurs.”



Everyone said it would be silly to change from a strictly accounting route.



“I took the off-ramp off the accounting route,” he says.



He began studying a masters in Economic Development at the University of Cape Town (UCT), while working on startups, and being an assistant lecturing.



One of the startups was Allsafe that aimed to reduce crime through innovative products, such as the Guardian wristband that alerts security nearby when you’re in danger. Allsafe entered the ‘map the system’ competition with the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.



“The idea is to understand systemic problems and the points where you can help them. I ended up going all the way to Oxford and presenting on the stage at Oxford, which was an incredible experience.”



Now, he runs ‘map the system’ for the South African league.



Crucial to his development was Nova Economics. He consulted on a beef genetics program, trying to improve the health of cattle through selective breeding, while also creating environmental impact.



Though COVID-19 was a shake up for him and the entire world, he began working on his biggest project to date; SMEgo, partnering with Old Mutual. This app streamlines entrepreneurs’ loan applications.



Spazzoli wanted to make even more of an impact, so he created a company to bring the myriad things he was doing under one umbrella, Accendio.



“And what that means is to create a spark, to create the light that can create a fire, that can have lots of impact,” he explains.



Accendio has three major ongoing projects; one works with the Bertha Centre at UCT, working on blended finance projects, another with Viridian rolling out educational curriculum to enterprising hubs in multiple African countries, and working with the African Management Insitute to create an online community of entrepreneurs.



“The journey into a field that&#8217;s impact-related has no real set path. If you want to get a job in banking, there&#8217;s pretty much a set path, go get yourself a finance degree, go get your experience as an analyst, build that up as you go. But with the world of impact and economic development, there&#8217;s no real path. And there&#8217;s no real sort of support that exists.”



He puts a caveat out there: entering the field of impact depends on circumstances. There is not a lot of black impact professionals in South Africa because it is crucial to earn and support families, as the burden of responsibility remains high.



“There&#8217;s no space, there&#8217;s no luxury afforded to them such as being able to take a lower paying job that has more impact. But I also think it&#8217;s the responsibility of people who have the resources and the privilege, to be the one to take the first step. And I&#8217;m never going to claim that I know everything. But I&#8217;m going to use what I can to take that first step to pave a pathway for people to come through.”



He could take on more lucrative commercial contracts, but he wants to nurture talent too.



He says that the world is not going to be lacking if there’s one less person working in banking, but the world would be massively improved if there’s one more person working in economic development.



Spazzoli hopes that the consulting agency will end up rivaling the bigger agencies, while ensuring they work from an impactful lens, creating ground-up solutions.



If he had a big vision for the work he’s doing, it would be to help government and corporate support small business. While initiatives do exist, he adds that they are often not truly effectual, such as mentoring programs – one needs to have capital to run a project, after all.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Tangent</h2>



Tiang Moabelo asked Spazzoli for guidance. Moabelo had been moving people’s things out of university residences for $30 in order to help cover his university fees and the cost of living.



Moabelo quickly developed LoadaLot into one of the most thriving student businesses at the time. Spazzoli made a small investment, and got a French investor on board, allowing LoadaLot to build an online system, pivoting the company into being a tech-based start-up.



“But more than just having the impact of helping his business, he now employs six people. It&#8217;s been a monumental amount of work, but at the same time, that&#8217;s a shift that has meant that six people can feed their families and six people can contribute to their work. And the way it&#8217;s structured, everyone has a say: it’s a horizontally organized business.”



There’s many projects Spazzoli is fervent about, preferring to shine the light on people like Moabelo. He’s still lecturing at UCT, and always championing people’s endeavors.



In the coming years, this driven individual is sure to turn sparks into home-warming hearths and flame the fires of sustainable businesses.

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The Social Entrepreneur Sparking Up Startups In South Africa

The rewarding story of a South Sudanese coffee entrepreneur who spent his childhood as a refugee braving bullets and snake bites. His company, 734 Coffee, is named after the geographical coordinates of the camp where he was raised. Uprooted by civil war, Manyang Reath Kher was invisible there, not anymore.



BY RIDHIMA SHUKLA



IN AKOBO VILLAGE IN THE HISTORIC Gambella region, the sun shone bright, the forest was green and the children laughed with gay abandon. The men reared cattle and the women tended to their kitchen gardens. The ponds had plenty of fish and the people were content. But their simple lives were about to be thrown into utter chaos.



The late 1980s saw the start of the brutal civil war in Sudan that burned villages and plunged the region into abject poverty. In the middle of this bloody carnage was Manyang Reath Kher, the three-year-old son of a cattle farmer who now recalls the chilling horrors of the conflict as we chat to him via Zoom. Today, he is a coffee entrepreneur educated in the United States (US) and on a mission to change lives in Africa.



Back then, he lived in Akobo, a village of no more than 300 people in South Sudan, with his parents and infant sister.



As the conflict surged, like many others, Kher’s father joined the resistance movement. His tiny village served as a stronghold for the rebels for over a year, providing them with relative safety and keeping them fed and alive.



But life for the families here was about to take a turn for the worse. As little Kher skipped in the forest and played with fish in the ponds, the military had seized power in the capital and the consequences of this political shift in the African nation drew closer home.



As one of the last remaining strongholds of the resistance movement, Kher’s village became a military target. The residents disappeared into the forest with whatever they could carry on their backs. A baby strapped to her chest and a toddler by her side, Kher’s mother, Dimma, along with other women and children, made her way into the depths of the forests, while the men held fort on the frontlines.



After restless days roaming in the forest, Dimma decided to part with her son hoping to give him a shot at life, which she wasn’t sure she had. Her brother, Nyayual, carried Kher to the Ethiopian border, but just before that, the fleeing families were chased by bullets as they ran for their lives to cross the river.



Kher’s uncle was shot in the back.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Screenshot-2022-03-24-at-08.47.19.png" alt="" class="wp-image-54634" width="667" height="379" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Screenshot-2022-03-24-at-08.47.19.png 1014w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Screenshot-2022-03-24-at-08.47.19-300x171.png 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Screenshot-2022-03-24-at-08.47.19-768x438.png 768w" sizes="(max-width: 667px) 100vw, 667px" /></figure></div>



He somehow managed to cross the river and hand over his nephew to a group of children before falling to the ground and breathing his last.



Kher roamed freely in the woods, playing hide and seek with the shadows of tall trees and tickled by the 



fish swarming the lakes. “I do not remember



many details; most of my young life was spent in a refugee camp,” says Kher.



In the summer of 1991, Kher and several other children were declared refugees and settled in a camp at the Sudan-Ethiopia border.



“I was lucky to have found people from my village and children who were kind to me.”



Inducted into a home for children, Kher lived on ration cards handed out by UNHCR workers, which afforded him a meal a day. Basic education in Maths, English and Science was also provided at the camp.



In this fractured new world, most days were the same; people were hungry, distraught and traumatized.



“I remember people dying everywhere even from mosquito bites,” says Kher.



Shortly after one of his friends succumbed to cholera, Kher was bitten by a venomous snake.



The severe pain had him bedridden and enduring fever for six months, but he survived this ordeal too and recovered to carry on as a young refugee not knowing how life would pan out.



“At the camp, rains would bring disease and discomfort but we would all tell each other that it can only rain so much.”



Wise words that stuck with him and led him to not only find a life outside of the encampment but also build one helping other refugees.



“As children, we could not wait to be men. Growing up was a boon, we desired to be on our own.”



In the early 1990s, the conflict in Sudan garnered the attention of Christian groups in the US who empathized with the cause of the South Sudanese. By the end of the decade, the cause had been championed for years and found a prominent place in US Congress.



American president George W Bush also made it his policy priority, which saw the signing of a peace deal (during his second tenure) between the rebels and government, enforcing a permanent ceasefire.



Despite spending his entire childhood in a refugee camp, 13 long years to be exact, away from his parents and unaware of their wellbeing, Kher calls himself “lucky”.



“I was lucky that the Catholics charity found out about the snake bite and was very empathetic. They checked on me for years and made arrangements for my higher education.”



In 2005, he left for university in Richmond, Virginia, in the US. Initially interested in Human Rights Law, he changed his mind and pursued International Business instead.



He understood the value of money early on.



He believed that to really help people, he first needed to be able to finance it.



“I was always going to study business. I was always motivated to do something for the people.”



His journey towards entrepreneurship began at his university campus, where he raised money selling produce from a community garden.



As a refugee who grew up in the coffee-rich lands of Ethiopia, Kher was close to the bounties of nature. But it wasn’t until he noticed the craze for coffee in the US that he even imagined trading in the commodity.



“At university, my friends were drinking coffee all the time and paying good money for it too. I wanted to tell my story through my work and I thought coffee could help me do that.”



In 2010, he registered a coffee import company in Richmond and named it 734 Coffee, after the geographical coordinates of the refugee camp where he was raised.



After all, the coffee was Ethiopian and the company intended to employ other refugees who had lost years of their lives to the conflict in Sudan.



“The fear of disappearing was overwhelming, the pain wasn’t! I wanted to tell our stories; I wanted the world to know.”



Along with learning the inner workings of running an international import/export business, the logistics, and building a network of buyers.



Kher was slowly rebuilding his life. He was also actively working with refugees to help them rehabilitate and restart their lives after being uprooted from their native land.



“I wanted my people to know I had not abandoned them. After all they were the family I grew up with.”



He started small but his efforts helped several families in the Gambella region of Ethiopia to earn an income and survive poverty and hunger. Along with a friend from the refugee camp, he distributed fishing nets to over 100 families giving them a vocation in hand.



He followed the problems faced by displaced populations in Africa and that landed him in a classroom to share his ideas and experiences with the students of the Human Rights curriculum at George Mason University in the US in 2017; a role he still continues.



The road to entrepreneurship was slow and bumpy; it took him six years to acquire the license for importing coffee beans from Africa to the US. But it was worth the wait.



After much trial and error and years of networking, his business gainedground. TheCovid-19pandemicdidn’thelp,buthepivotedto online sales. In 2019, 734 Coffee had 300 former refugees working as employees at the cooperative farms in the Gambella region of Ethiopia.



“We want to improve lives while improving our business,” he says of his simple business philosophy.



Kher is currently setting up a water cleaning and packaging unit 



in South Sudan. He believes his plant will not only offer employment to the local populace but also provide them with inexpensive drinking water in reusable packaging.



The facility aims to employ over a 100 people over the next few years with a focus on those whose lives have been disruptedbyconflict. “Wehavetoredefinethemeaningof human rights, we need to understand what we are fighting for. The reason it took me 13 years to leave the encampment was because there were many disruptions,” he says.



After more than two decades apart, Kher finally met his mother and sister in 2012.



He also found out about his father’s demise during the war.



Up to two million lives have reportedly been lost to the civil war in Sudan, since the1980s. Hundreds of thousands have been internally displaced. Despite the peace deal and bifurcation of Africa’s once largest nation, reports of human rights abuse and conflict continue. People like Kher’s family are still fleeing their homes to save themselves from famine, abuse and starvation, only to find years lost in a refugee camp.



Today, South Sudanese make up the largest refugee population in Ethiopia’s refugee encampments. Yet, Kher remainsoptimistic:“Lotsofproblemswerebroughtto [Africa] but, today 70% of our decisions are in our own hands and that is how we can and will change Africa.”



Today, he hopes to fund the higher education of hundreds of refugee children and give them the opportunities he was blessed with. Indeed, as he believes, “the rains do stop”.

Screenshot 2022-03-24 at 08.47.09

Meet South Sudan’s Son of the Soil Who Has Brewed His Company From The Ground Up

When you are a young, feisty female founder in the startup world, not everything will go your way. The biggest challenge? Access to capital and worse, seeing funding disproportionately channeled to all-male teams, as studies suggest.



BY INAARA GANGJI



JIHAN ABASS, THE 26-YEAR-OLD FOUNDER and CEO of Lami, an insurance technology firm in Kenya, once had a chance conversation with a waiter at a restaurant in Nairobi who ruefully told her he did not have insurance. She then pondered the transformative power of access to insurance to those who never had it, and set up a platform democratizing financial services like insurance and creating a safety net for millions of small businesses and the working class in Africa.



A former commodities trader in London, she came to the space with finance experience and all the passion she needed to fuel the rocketship called entrepreneurship, but that was clearly not enough.



“There’s not a lot of other women to really talk to about issues that you’re facing [in Africa] when it comes to managing a team or even the funding process, being able to be as assertive, or get the best valuation, and so on,” she says, reflecting on her arduous journey raising $1.8 million for her startup.



And evidence amply echoes this reality.



An October 2021 study titled ‘In Search of Equity: Exploring Africa’s Gender Gap In Startup Finance’ by Briter Bridges and the World Bank’s Gender Innovation Lab says that for every dollar received by all female- founded startup teams, about $25 goes to all-male teams, according to Toni Weis, operations analyst in the Africa Gender Innovation Lab at the World Bank.



The study attributes this gap to not only a possible confidence gap, but the kind of industries women function in, and the type of financing pursued.



“Female founders are found to be active in high- impact sectors, such as agriculture, e-commerce and health, which in general receive less funding than say fintech and logistics/commerce, which are sectors that are largely dominated by male founders,” says Lisa With, Head of Research and Operations at Briter in London.



Briter has been actively tracking, recording deals and co-founding teams across Africa since 2018.



sometimes into a fear of wanting to reach out for things because you immediately think that ‘I’m going to get rejected before I even apply’,” says Siso. “It’s not overt. You’re dealing with employees and clients, stakeholders and investors and these comments come to you on a day-to-day basis.”



However, female entrepreneurs are more likely to pay it forward. The study highlighted that companies led by women founders were twice as likely to hire women, and four times as likely to employ female managers. Abass even notes that having a female investor at the table when she was seeking financing may have favorably impacted the outcome for Lami.



“Increasingly, more women are being educated and trained in STEM, signaling that more and more women are also entering the startup ecosystem for opportunities. Supporting other women in the space will serve to foster a more inclusive and diverse startup community,” adds With.



And thankfully, now, there are more unconventional options for financing that can be more favorable for the increasing number of female founders entering the system. Siso has taken the approach of going for any

African businesswoman working from home during lockdown

Women Building Startups Without Funds, Fear Or Favor

A high school drop-out, Nikhil Kamath is India’s youngest billionaire and with a keen interest in Africa.



IF YOU HAVE A PLAN, DOES IT MATTER THAT YOU HAVE NOT FINISHED SCHOOL? Ask Nikhil Kamath, the 35-year-old co-founder of wealth management firms Zerodha and True Beacon and India’s youngest billionaire as per Forbes India’s 2021 India Rich List.



The big name in Indian stock-broking and retail brokerage dropped out of school at the age of 15 to play chess and developed a passion for the stockmarkets and investing in asset classes. He started equity trading at the age of 17 and his first business at 19. He founded Zerodha and True Beacon with his brother Nithin in the last decade, and together, the brothers were reportedly worth $2.59 billion in 2021.



Today, Kamath is creating wealth for some of the richest people on the planet, with a disruptive product – an open-ended fund with no management fees or entry and exit fees.



This commission-free investing model has drawn comparisons with trading platform Robinhood in the United States.



How does he keep this model sustainable in the long-term and how is he looking at African investors? Kamath answers on a Zoom call from Bengaluru, known as India’s Silicon Valley and which is just the setting for his booming fintech.



The man bullish about both India and Africa starts with: “It’s our endeavour to become totally client-aligned, so we have eliminated fixed fees you would associate with a typical fund. It’s a wholesale game in a way, we charge very little, about Rs20 ($0.26) per transaction as an execution fee. We have close to 15%-18% share in the Indian markets, so even though Rs20 does not sound like a lot, with millions of 



transactions a day, that adds up to be a considerable number.” The epiphany for the model came a few years ago when Kamath



was trying to allocate his own capital to private banks and wealth managers and realized the ineptness in the system.



“So to rid the ecosystem of a lot of these inefficiencies, I decided to launch the asset management company (Zerodha), basically building a product I hoped will be available for somebody like me to invest in.”



The seasoned derivatives trader is now eyeing the African market, and hopes to set up base in the continent’s big economies like South Africa and especially Nigeria, for “the new demographic opportunities the region offers”.



India’s regulatory framework is also one of the best that makes it attractive for African investors, a point Kamath concurs with.



“As the world is getting globalized, I think everybody is looking for diversification, not just amongst asset classes but between geographies. So for an African ultra high networth individual (HNI) to participate in India’s growth would be a great opportunity.



“The problem up until now is there haven’t been very many efficient ways of doing it. We are just trying to solve that by providing the connectivity and transparency for these ultra HNIs from Africa to invest in India and get some kind of global diversification. Africa in many ways is a big emerging market for us, and the opportunities are plenty.



“The good thing we have going with India and Africa is there are deep cultural ties going back many decades, and a familiarity with how both the regions have evolved. So I would think it’s natural for increased collaboration and cross-country deals.”



But what does Kamath think of the capital markets and regulatory frameworks in Africa? How would a fund like his work here, we ask, as he hopes to change the nuances of investing.



“What has really worked for India in the last five years is the adoption of technology in the banking and fintech universe. And the regulators have allowed for an ecosystem where this adoption has thrived and happened sooner. Maybe that is a good lesson for Africa, to not go the traditional route of dealing with red tape but to make things more open and integrating technology faster might help reduce the time to get licences and processes working in Africa.”



And coming from a country with a rapidly growing startup ecosystem, the billionaire has advice too for Africa’s young entrepreneurs: “Don’t think too local; there is plenty of innovation happening in different pockets of the world. Actively engage, invest and create, try and learn from the mistakes of others.”



–For the full interview, visit <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2021/billionaire-nikhil-kamath-on-disruptive-model-of-managing-assets-of-the-ultra-rich/">www.cnbcafrica.com </a>

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The Billionaire Creating Wealth For the Ultra-Rich

Stray cats in Cairo have new saviours in Egyptian designer duo Ibrahim Abougendy and Aly Zeineldin who craft used tires into functional homes for them.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



Eco-friendly products designer Ibrahim Abougendy and Aly Zeineldin, the owner of e-commerce platform Petman, teamed up to create Sheltire, a non-for-profit product using upcycled tires as shelter for stray cats in Cairo, Egypt.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="background">Background</h2>



“We’re crazy artists,” says Ibrahim Abougendy, also known as ‘trash designer’ in the North African country. He goes into the street on his daily route to his studio, Mobikya, stopping for coffee at a café, and sees problems he wants to turn into designs.



Cats roam the Mobiyka studio, using Sheltire as shelter. “The cats live there, but they come and go,” Abougendy says. Mobikya creates mass-producible solutions for solid waste and eco-friendly products out of sustainable materials.



Abougendy noticed that during winter cats would crawl under old cars in Egypt, endangering their lives. The cats also used felled trees as lodging. So the idea for a shelter for cats was born, but wouldn’t see fruition until this year.



“Our goal was to create a functional/economic mobile shelter unit that could fit in an urban context and save street cats from the extreme climate conditions we have seen hitting Egypt the past couple of winters. It even began to snow in southern regions like Hurghada,” Abougendy says.



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“We did this because we saw something wrong happening and we had a solution. We just let it flow and let people interact with it. What happened is a storm we didn’t expect.”</blockquote>



It took two years to find the right design meant for a cat’s anatomy and make it ergonomic. Abougendy finally hit on the infinity shape. Now they can stack tires on top of each other, creating hostels for up to 200 cats.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Cat-inquisitive-about-the-Sheltire.png" alt="" class="wp-image-54275" width="445" height="790"/></figure></div>



“We did this because we saw something wrong happening and we had a solution. We just let it flow and let people interact with it. What happened is a storm we didn’t expect,” he says.



Abougendy proposed the idea of a cat shelter to Zeineldin, saying the design would be mass producible, but not for sale, rather as a CSR initiative. Together, they took a risk, and it has paid off: Sheltire went viral on the internet.



Sheltire is an open-source design, deceptively simple in appearance, but difficult to pull off.



Abougendy says people from Canada and the Gulf have tried to duplicate the design, and says he’s happy to help. “It may look easy to fabricate, but it’s not. We do intensive research and development on every product.”



He has also fine-tuned the prototype with extra insulation for warmth.



From 2017, Abougendy and Zeineldin have been working together, creating an e-commerce store called Knum; the name inspired by Khnum/Khnemu, an ancient Egyptian god of fertility associated with water and procreation.



The two also make tables, sound systems, lamp shades, basins, shelves, mirrors, chairs and more using composite designs of upcycled tires and washing machine parts. All are curated for mass production.



Oil drums were another favorite for Abougendy, and he converted 500 dumped barrels into useful designs and products for the Maker Faire Cairo in 2018.



In 2020, they also began a line of eco-friendly pottery products. The Ahy mug is unique – the dregs from the coffee/tea remain in the cup because of its circular design. Ahy means ‘wavy’ in hieroglyphics. Zeineldin says they are trying to revive ancient Egypt’s designs.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Tired-cats-get-tires-as-homes-taking-a-look-inside-the-raw-materials-576x1024.png" alt="" class="wp-image-54279" width="380" height="676" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Tired-cats-get-tires-as-homes-taking-a-look-inside-the-raw-materials-576x1024.png 576w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Tired-cats-get-tires-as-homes-taking-a-look-inside-the-raw-materials-169x300.png 169w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Tired-cats-get-tires-as-homes-taking-a-look-inside-the-raw-materials-768x1365.png 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Tired-cats-get-tires-as-homes-taking-a-look-inside-the-raw-materials-864x1536.png 864w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Tired-cats-get-tires-as-homes-taking-a-look-inside-the-raw-materials-1152x2048.png 1152w" sizes="(max-width: 380px) 100vw, 380px" /></figure></div>



“There’s no tendency in Egypt to buy eco-friendly products just for the sake of being sustainable. They buy things for the functionality,” Abougendy adds.



“When ancient Egyptians designed anything, they used bio-mimicry, they looked to nature. When they designed things like columns, they looked to the Nile. So they have a leaf-bundle column for example, and I am inspired by that,” Abougendy says.



He implements the column designs in his work, looking for ergonomic solutions that visually remind one of ancient Egypt.



“We do ready-made art. What we do is next level though. We think functionality first – so tires are elastic and insulated in a way – then we do the architecture side. And we merge different materials so we have advanced functionality. Upcycling is transferring a tire into a table, so you upgrade its economic unit value,” Abougendy explains. He goes on to say the composite designs merging materials make their designs unique.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="tangent">Tangent</h2>



The duo say stray cats are mostly ignored in Egypt and while some people feed them, there are still instances of animal cruelty, particularly against dogs. In 2017, Abougendy adopted a dog he found in old Cairo, named Coco, but after two years, she died of poisoning. His second dog, Basbousa (named after an Arabic dessert), now lives happily in a larger space with friends.



Zeineldin could not find quality food for his Ridgeback dog Gamila (meaning ‘beautiful’ in Arabic) and set out to create an online store called Petman to meet this need. Petman partnered with the Animal Protection Foundation, delivering subscription meals for dogs. He says it wasn’t for the money, rather for a cause. Abougendy proposed the cat shelter as another initiative.



The Sheltire for cats is a non-profit product, only taking into account the cost of construction and labor. Definitely something to purr about.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="aligncenter size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Finished-product-complete-with-funky-patterns-1024x576.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-54277" width="585" height="328" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Finished-product-complete-with-funky-patterns-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Finished-product-complete-with-funky-patterns-300x169.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Finished-product-complete-with-funky-patterns-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Finished-product-complete-with-funky-patterns-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Finished-product-complete-with-funky-patterns-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 585px) 100vw, 585px" /></figure></div>

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