It’s not every day that a kitchen experiment turns into a community-empowering initiative. Leeko Makoene numbed her tongue and survived two ulcers to discover an authentic fiery taste named Chilladido.
With the brand’s co-owner Portia Mmabatho Morudi, she is bent on giving back to the communities they grew up in, with a ‘Made With Rural’ concept showcasing their authentic offerings.
While most of their peers have migrated to urban areas, the duo returned to invest in rural South Africa.
“It doesn’t make sense that rural communities who have rich arable land [at their disposal] still experience abject poverty and huge rates of unemployment,” says Makoene.
Chilladiddo is a food manufacturing company that produces chilli sauces, relishes, honey and other food products. The ingredients are sourced from Makapanstad village, processed in Lanseria, Johannesburg, and then sold at food shows, markets and a few Spars outlets in the city.
To make their business viable, the duo sought a partnership with the PEACE Foundation to set up structures to make  the projects sustainable. The foundation provided the necessary skills, resources and know-how in the communities.
The duo’s iLawu Honey project driven by the rural village of Winterveld is a showcase of innovation; the bee-hives are located in citrus farms managed by co-operatives in the area. The hives help with the pollination, and the honey produced is sold at food shows and markets.
This was Morudi’s brainchild, and for this, she was selected an emerging change-maker in South Africa by Spark International and invited by Virgin Unite and the Richard Branson group to speak at an event in London in 2014.
“Year after year, government ploughs money into projects and co-operatives operated in rural areas, only to see them fail and out of business a year later, simply because it is hard for them to crack the retail space, and secure sustainable markets,” offers Makoene.
As an entrepreneur, she found a solution to this issue. They partnered with like-minded small business owners, who are looking to raw materials and other things to keep activity in the rural supply market chain.
Makoene maintains that the youth misunderstand rural development.
“Agriculture is food. The whole chain of taking food from the soil, all the way to the shelf and the plate is what agriculture is about. There is a broad and exciting future in agriculture. African youth can create a legacy for themselves and their communities.”
In June 2015, the pair will host a mentorship walk in rural Makapanstad, where professionals, government officials and business owners will motivate and encourage the youth to pursue their dreams.
Plans are also underway to source funding to convert an inactive school facility in one of the villages into a processing plant for manufacturing Chilladiddo products.
Already awarded grant money from SAB Kickstart and The Hope Factory to help move the business forward, the Chilladiddo duo are set to launch a franchise food outlet and host a big festival to showcase all that Makapanstad has to offer.
“I am more fulfilled and rich doing the work that I do for rural development. I get pure joy on a tractor, than in a Porsche. Life has humbled me, and shown me what it is that matters the most, and from there, I have started receiving material riches,” says Makoene.
The chilli sauces and the fire in their bellies are enough to keep them going.

2014-02-21-15.13.11

From The Soil To The Shelves

No one said it would be easy!
As women of Africa we have had epic battles to fight, from freeing ourselves from the shackles of colonized and patriarchal mindsets, to being pigeon-holed by our multi-textured identities shaped by race, gender, class and cultures. But we have started to change that: initially we did this hesitantly, often unsure about our own strength, both physical and emotional, as well as our worth – and, more often than not, cowed by the often unquestioned power-based status quo in our societies and institutions, and the barriers that kept us out.
But now we are braver, wiser and more reliant on our own instincts and leadership traits; our emotional and spiritual intelligence; our formal and informal knowledge; our experiences and our relationships, and so we have begun to carve out the future we want for ourselves in bigger, bolder and more audacious steps. In general, African women have started to own their voices and make their mark in domains that were previously male-dominated. Why?
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I like to posit that one of the primary reasons for this phenomenon is that women are no longer afraid of owning their ambition; we have finally learned that ambition is not a dirty word. Previously we would shy away from asking, negotiating, speaking up, recognizing our worth and claiming the recognition we so rightly deserve. From war-torn countries to boardrooms to our homes, we are no longer wearing the victim cap but have replaced it with our open ambition – not driven primarily for self-centered, egocentric reasons but because we are deeply passionate about creating better adjusted societies. Most of us are, after all, mothers or mothers in the making, and so instinctively nurturing – and which mother in which country does not want a better life for her child?
From women who are playing significant peace-keeping roles in their countries, to the survivalist female entrepreneurs operating as the third economy in hugely disparate nations, to women who have paved the way for more women in the boardrooms of corporate enterprises and government structures – all have claimed the right to their goals and aspirations.
Huge sacrifices have been made by women who came before us, particularly those who fearlessly stood up to oppressive regimes and allowed us to take our seats around the tables of power. You and I are without a doubt still making sacrifices and may obtain many scars for openly demonstrating such a determined sense of civil or commercial purpose. But instead of hiding our scars let’s wear them as badges of honor.
I have quite a few scars myself, but through my experiences I have learned that what does not kill or damage me is character-building and has given me  an inner strength and resilience I did not know I possessed. I was talking to a South African male leader recently and he said something very interesting; the gist of it went like this: “I was never an insider and being the outsider from a young age made me fight for it, and work harder and smarter – and made me infinitely more hungry.”
I think this can be argued as a case for women who have never been the insiders in a male-dominated society and business environment. In addition to being the outsiders we also possess traits that men simply don’t have. According to an extensive study conducted in 2013 by John Gerzema, named one of the Top 100 Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Behaviour 2014 by Trust Across America, and Michael D’Antonio, women are intuitively more expressive in their leadership style, they use flexibility as a way of getting things done, and they see winning as a group construct. These are primarily female leadership traits, the study concluded, and are what we want in our leaders today – that is, leaders who have the capacity to relate to ordinary people and their points of view.
Simply put, we are the leaders we have been waiting for. Our nation, our society and our corporate enterprises need leaders like us; and the young women and men in our societies need role models like us. Gerzema and D’Antonio articulate it beautifully in the title of their 2013 New York Times bestseller, The Athena Doctrine: how women (and the men who think like them) will rule the future.
That future is now. Women need to be proud of their ambition and, in realizing it, must be prepared to stave off whatever slings and arrows the insiders may throw at us.
&nbsp;
The writer is the Executive Director of the Centre for Leadership and Dialogue at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) in Johannesburg,
South Africa.

Ambition  Is Not A Dirty Word

It is 2015, the deadline for the WHO Millennium Development Goal 5 (MDG5) to reduce 1990s’ maternal mortality by 75%. On May 23, the world will observe United Nations International Day to end obstetric fistula (a breakdown of the birth canal caused by obstructed labour, leaving women incontinent, infection-prone and ostracized). 2015 is also the deadline for WHO MDG4 to reduce 1990s’ under-five child mortality by two-thirds.
A London-educated obstetrician gynaecologist and fetal medicine specialist, I’ve just returned to South Africa after 14 years. I’m delighted to be joining the WITS Maternal and Fetal Medicine Centre at Morningside Mediclinic in Sandton in Johannesburg and with the extra day I’ll spend every week as an Honorary Consultant at Chris Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto.
As a Ugandan-Rwandan, I also return as a sub-Saharan African, fully aware that sub-Saharan Africa made the slowest progress (under 20%) in reducing maternal mortality, that its share of the world’s maternal deaths actually grew from 42% in 1990 to 62% in 2013, and that the projection is it will fail to meet the MDG5 target. I’m also aware that nearly three million women and girls, mostly sub-Saharan African, live with obstetric fistula. Sub-Saharan Africa also has the highest under-five child mortality – 16 times that of developed countries, with more of the 6.6 million child deaths (44% in 2012 compared to 37% in 1990) occurring in the newborn period, clearly linked to a deficit in safe maternity care.
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Coming from a UK system, my conscience is heavy. I have worked within clinical governance frameworks where maternity health workers manage obstetric emergencies in multidisciplinary teams, have unrestricted access to updated evidence-based protocols, emergency drugs, blood products and broad spectrum antibiotics and are regularly appraised and supported through enforced emergency drills and continuous professional development. In sub-Saharan Africa, there will be an isolated traditional birth attendant dealing with a post-partum haemorrhage on her own, an unknown expectant mother walking in labor to get help, and I can remember the midwife I met traveling through rural Uganda in 2013 who, when I asked about clinical audit in her unit, responded saying “we are too demoralized by what we face everyday to be dealing with audits”.
However, against the bleak backdrop of sub-Saharan Africa’s high maternal and under-five child mortalities, I’m hopeful. The speed of mobile phone penetration in sub-Saharan Africa over the last decade, faster than anywhere else in the world, points to Africa’s potential. In 2007, mobile subscriptions were already three times faster than in Europe, and in 2009, there were 10 times as many mobile phones as fixed-lines, Kenya being a shining example.
Aside from clear evidence that GDP increases with mobile phone penetration in developing countries, the possibilities are countless.
Relevant to me are the growing number of mHealth projects. Programs and applications that provide real-time intelligence, monitoring and response to disease outbreaks (Nigeria’s ‘EOCs’), provide remote diagnoses (Botswana’s ‘Kgonafalo’), prompt patients to take their medication (South Africa’s ‘Cell-Life’), and prevent drug counterfeiting (Ghana’s ‘mPedigree’). I’m excited by the mHealth projects in maternal health – Nigeria’s ‘mCBS’, South Africa’s ‘MAMA’ and Uganda’s mobile electronic fetal heart monitor ‘Winsenga’.
I owe something to the 800 women and 25,000 children under five who die every year, from preventable causes.
The United Nations has called for accelerated interventions and prioritization in maternal and child health and we await political will, sound strategies and adequate resources. I’ve decided I must take advantage of the great strides Africa is taking in mobile infrastructure and have taken to mHealth, developing a mobile App targeted at safer childbirth as most maternal deaths are due to complications occurring around pregnancy.
Mismanaged labour is also a direct cause of obstetric fistula and newborn deaths. The App will prompt community birth attendants on timely assessments during labour and detect deviation from normality for both mother and fetus. These remote assessments will be electronically visible through a real-time location-based platform for skilled obstetricians and midwives.
Pre-existing medical conditions are another cause of maternal death. The App will therefore in the first instance, perform a risk-assessment to guide on the safest venue for delivery. Patient data and outcomes will be captured into an electronic system to facilitate audit and accuracy of maternal mortality estimates for central monitoring.
I can’t be a bystander as Africa goes through this historic boom in technology while women are evicted from our world simply because they are deprived the safe experience of childbirth. I have to do this because my heart is heavy knowing that with every hour, 33 women die in childbirth from preventable causes. Investing in maternal health will not only improve a mother’s health and her family’s, but will increase women’s numbers in the workforce and promote the economic wellbeing of their countries. I have to do this because women hold up half the sky.

Mobile Apps  For Maternal Health?

It was meant to be a historic first for Africa and women’s professional boxing – it was a flop. On February 3 2007, Gwendolyn O’Neil of Guyana challenged Laila Ali, the daughter of legendary professional boxer Muhammad Ali, for a WBC super-middleweight world title at Emperors Palace, in Johannesburg. To the chagrin of 2,800 spectators, who paid at least $50 a head, with the late Nelson Mandela ringside, Ali pulverized O’Neil in the first round to win with a knockout. The then 30-year-old Ali earned a $522,000 purse and quit the sport.
Many boxing enthusiasts saw the fight as a breakthrough for struggling professional female boxing in South Africa, which started in 2001. But Rodney Berman, the man who put it together, had other thoughts. Berman, the leading promoter in Africa, wanted to fulfil Ali’s wish for his daughter to fight on the continent, like he did in Kinshasa in 1974 in the famous ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ with George Foreman. But this was the first and the last female bout under Berman’s Golden Gloves Promotions.
“I won’t do it again; I don’t want to think about seeing two women in the ring bleeding. For me it’s not a sport for women, it is something I think is unfeminine. In my opinion women shouldn’t be boxing. It doesn’t interest me. I can’t watch women taking punishment. They have been trying to encourage it in South Africa but I don’t know why? Laila Ali was different; she was accepted worldwide as something special. She was the only one I was interested in because of her family pedigree,” says Berman.
Top trainer Nick Durandt, of Durandt’s Boxing World, is also not keen on female boxing. Durandt, who trained one woman boxer, says women’s boxing doesn’t make business sense and there’s no big money in it. In 30 years as a trainer, Durandt guided 38 world champions and 97 South African champions.
Eight years after Ali’s bout, South Africa has not even come close to staging another high profile women’s bout.
“It’s not only a South Africa problem, but worldwide. Have you seen a female bout headline a big event?” asks Durandt.
“In general, boxing is in a bad state in South Africa, so women’s boxing is even worse. The unfortunate passing of Phindile Mwelase didn’t do them any favors. If the tragedy of that nature happens early in the existence of sport, many people will surely keep away from it. Women’s boxing is almost non-existent to be honest. Nick Durant would know better,” says Peter Leopeng, a senior boxing analyst.
It is not merely an African story. Female boxers in the United States are migrating in droves to Mexico where the sport is lucrative and growing. New York-based Alicia Ashley was one of the Americans to take her chances in Mexico. In September, Ashley lost her WBC super bantamweight title to the Mexican Jackie Nava. She is still boxing at the age of 48.
In Africa there is a dearth of fights and sponsorship. Many women have quit the sport but those who remain earn peanuts. According to Boxing South Africa, there are fewer than 40 licensed women boxers in the country, with a majority coming from the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and Gauteng. Few of these boxers have challenged for world titles – none have won. The names are little known: Sandra Almeida, the country’s first professional boxer; Noni Tenge; Julie Tshabalala; Gabisile Tshabalala and Unathi Myekeni.
It is a dangerous game of risk in the ring. Mwelase, a fairly inexperienced boxer with five professional fights, was knocked unconscious in the sixth of eight rounds in October last year in Pretoria. She died at the Steve Biko Academic Hospital after two weeks in a coma – the first African female boxer to die. The 31-year-old was fighting for $400.
Kenyan Conjestina Achieng was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, Mathare Mental Hospital, but couldn’t pay the bill. The government had to intervene. She was a former middleweight champion and the first Kenyan to fight internationally. In 2004, Achieng beat Uganda’s Fiona Tugume for the vacant WIBF middleweight world title. She would go on to win four world titles under different categories, registering 17 wins and four draws, earning the nickname Hands of Stone.
Despite these difficulties, women’s boxing is not dead, merely struggling.
Stanley Ndlovu, owner of Sir Stan’s Athletics, is a struggling trainer who has not given up on female boxers. Ndlovu became a trainer in the 1970s to keep youth off the streets of Soweto. He trains three professional female boxers in his stable. Among several male champions, Ndlovu guided his own son, Takalani, to the junior IBF featherweight title.
“While there were riots in 1976, we were busy training the youngsters in our gyms. After the hard practise, we sent them home to protect them from the brutality of police in the streets. We saved them from crossfire. The passion I had for boxing from those days I still have this day. Boxing is the same as any other institution. If you are not disciplined, you will face the consequences alone. But I don’t tolerate that with my boxers,” says Ndlovu. Sir Stan’s Athletics is hidden in the heart of a tourist trap in the Maboneng Precinct, in Johannesburg.  Every weekday, Ndlovu nurtures the talent of his students. The late and unfortunate Mwelase turned professional in 2012 under his eye. All Ndlovu’s female students hail from rural areas and are unemployed. They all hope boxing will one day change their lives for the better.
“The mentality of promoters towards lady boxers must change, we won’t despair. Look at the [South African women’s football team], Banyana Banyana, today. No one gave them a chance of making it when they started. Here, I will produce Commonwealth champions,” says Ndlovu.
Still they come, female and proud with gloves on. It is a Friday morning in the gym at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg, three young women are punching bags like they hate them. One of them is Cebile Mlotsa, who weighs less than 50 kilograms and has a quick jab.
“I don’t really pay attention to money, but I just want to turn professional and follow my passion. Just because there are two men who decided that it’s not going to work, it doesn’t mean that women should stop boxing. I started with a coach that told me you are getting there. There was no discrimination that I am a girl, they will help you. They were all very supportive,” says Mlotsa, an amateur boxer and engineering graduate.
In 2013, Mlotsa joined the Wits boxing gym because she saw people running around campus looking fit and followed them. After a few days in the gym, she was introduced to boxing. Mlotsa has only two fights in two years.
“I liked the intensity involved in it. You have to prepare and it takes a lot out of you. There are no girls or boys in our gym, we run with the boys, we are sparring with the boys, everyone is a boxer. My mother raised concerns about violence in boxing, but I told her Mandela was a boxer too,” she chuckles.
Hedda Wolmarans is a young promising boxer and sports management student who is turning professional this year. She is unfazed by the penury of the sport she took up in 2012 just to keep fit. Wolmarans is currently the Gauteng amateur champion in the under 69 kilogram division. She fought 13 times under different trainers around Johannesburg but late last year joined reputable trainer Colin Nathan.
“I have what it takes to be a professional. Colin Nathan has warned me it is not going to be easy to get fights because Rodney Berman is not interested in female boxers. It’s going to be hard but that’s a risk I am willing to take. I am not driven by money, I just want to fight and get a South African title. Look at other male South Africa boxers, they still keep their jobs. I fell in love with the sport, it is very difficult, yet addictive. You have to constantly push yourself,” says Wolmarans.  And constantly push the boundaries of the sport for women.

UD16325

Women Should Not  Be Boxing?

It was around two years ago when I found myself on one of those musty and cramped overnight buses headed from Cuzco to Lima in Peru. Tired of watching B-grade Spanish movies and eating Pringles to pass the time, I went online to Google my mom: Michelle Meyjes.
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All the expected results came up: CEO, award-winning South African businesswoman, media mogul, a ‘proven leader’ and her face on a few magazine covers. There was even an article that declared her one of ‘South Africa’s top 30 wonder women’ alongside Graça Machel, Ferial Haffajee and Thuli Madonsela.
And there I was, slouching in that seat on a musty and cramped bus, the only child of this superwoman, the only hope of carrying forth the great business genes; now on my last pennies, eating Pringles and on a bus to nowhere.
We laugh about it now but it took me a good few years to learn that a shadow is no great place for the daughter of a businesswoman.
Mom and I have always been wonderfully close – we share everything (except underwear) and we’ve always celebrated our differences: she is humble as chips, I’m showy as a peacock; she’s astute with money, I never have any of it; she’s strategic, I’m creative. And she comes from the generation where you start work and you stay there your whole life whether you like it or not. It’s all you know, it’s what you’re good at, so just put your head down and shoulder the storm, dear woman!
For a while, I tried to play in the same work place, riding off the coat-tails of a phenomenal mother and industry role-model. I moved to Johannesburg to ‘pursue a career’ because that’s what the city promised our young, educated and ambitious professionals: work, money, commodity, stuff. I was groomed to ‘be MD in two years’ and told ‘you’re going to be just like your mother’.
And then one day, I couldn’t face getting out of bed. My phone was stealing my life – ting, ting, ting, beep, beep. Emails and text messages and phone calls from clients and the boss and my co-workers and more emails&#8230; I put my duvet over my head and tried to block it all out. At 24, I was sick from stress, burnt out and uninspired.
That night, I made the decision to pack it all in – leave the job, the boyfriend, the title and the money and head in the direction of goodness knows where. And the best thing of all was that mom remained my biggest supporter. Often she said, “Don’t do what I did, my baby.”
So I decided to live for living. I moved to France, I worked on a few super yachts and was fired once or twice. I met my future husband while taking out the rubbish and I learned to speak Swedish (he’s Swedish). I got a casual job in Tanzania and I backpacked through parts of South America. I studied as a Pilates instructor in Italy and moved to the outskirts of Monaco, where it’s okay not to have much money and eat cheap Indian curry. I don’t own a Louis Vuitton bag. And until further notice, we won’t own a car. I started writing again and mustered up a community of South African expatriates who were also trying to figure out why Europe still didn’t feel like home.
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And I spent time repairing, re-gathering and listening to the stories of other people. Whether it was a lesson from my homeless friend John or a moment spent making a bed for Arabic royalty, I came to learn that life has so many different angles and that success can mean so many different things.
I learned things about success that a career would never have taught me.
And in the end, I have come to terms with the fact that we have chosen different lives – my mom and I.
It’s a sad thing that success has become about money and things and a frantic, hard slog to the top, often in tough and abusive work environments that are especially hard on our women. For us women, success should be about time: spending time, having a good time, or simply having the time. Success should be about time with the right people, time with ourselves; or doing what we love while we still have the time to do it. Time makes us richer.
I may have walked away from a well-paved career but I never believed packing up meant giving up. I still admire those women who have the guts to survive in that world. And I thank my supermom for giving me the courage to choose differently.
The writer studied radio journalism and landed a desk job in South Africa before packing it all up for the more interesting life.

Living-in-France-II_Nov-2014

Nothing Like A Businesswoman

Content is king on television, and to attract eyeballs, it should have world-class quality, not to mention, a searing subject.
When they set out with a drama series project for the African market three years ago, creators BB Sasore and Derin Adeyokunnu knew that only too well. They picked a concept very close to home, delving into the life of the average young unmarried Nigerian female, her aspiration to get hitched before the age of 30 and how this view is further reinforced by society.
As founding partners of Nemsia Studios, a Lagos-based marketing agency, the TV series was a prelude to the company’s production arm, Nemsia Films. Their mission: to produce a world-class, yet intrinsically African production, with an uncompromising emphasis on quality.
The series, titled Before 30, explores the dating scene, the cultural contexts, pressures and perceptions around marriage through the lives of four young Nigerian women from diverse backgrounds. In 2012, open casting calls for the show saw over 300 actors audition for the roles.
“If I think back to where we were both at, it wasn’t daunting at all in the beginning. At the time, we thought this is a genius idea because the realities the Nigerian woman faces are so different from [those faced by] her Western counterparts. She can be all she wants to be – successful, beautiful, driven, accomplished but in this society, without her wedding ring, she is not fully celebrated as a woman.
“We wanted to tell this story. When we started to shoot the pilot however, it became clear it was not going to be an easy task. We were shocked by the very lax response of potential investors to the project at that stage,” says Sasore, the series’ writer and director.
With surplus content everywhere the challenge then was to be unique, benchmarking themselves against the more established frameworks of the western world, while at the same time keeping costs down.
“We pride ourselves on the fact that we don’t compromise on quality. This becomes dicey while trying to keep costs at a minimal level,” says the series’ producer Morin Akinnola.
“For the detail we aimed for, we leveraged a lot on relationships and made it a point to pitch a vivid picture to a lot of the resources that eventually encouraged and supported the production.”
Akinnola hopes the audience is able to perceive the effort gone into the making of the series. The quest for perfection was relentless from start to finish – from the script, visuals, casting, and fashion to music.
Keen on pushing the envelope, the Before 30 team hopes to showcase the wealth of talent on the African continent. The talented cast and crew, African designers and the eclectic African music in the series, attest to this.
Achieving it was a huge challenge though, as the television industry is fraught with bottlenecks.
“Because of the size of the market and lack of funds, we are a bit restricted in terms of the kinds of stories we can tell. Once a great story has been developed, raising funds to bring it to life is the next necessity. We are honored and humbled to have received a lot of encouragement as we proceeded in this regard. Location, cast, crew amongst others also come to the forefront – these are the realities the industry faces. Monetizing the content is always at the pith of any production’s expectations and with the series, we aim to give good reason for this,” says executive producer Adeyokunnu.
With support from key sponsors, a total of $300,000 went into producing the series. Before 30 premiered in March and will air on seven local, pan-African and international networks.
“We are definitely trying to raise the bar in African television by telling compelling stories that are visually appealing and on par with world standards. The world is ready to be exposed to diverse cultures, trends and perceptions. It is an opportunity to share with the world our incredible creative industry and through this medium and the right infrastructure, we will achieve it,” chorus the Nemsia team.
For now, when the lights come on and the camera rolls, the Nigerian woman awaits her turn to steal the spotlight.

Temi

Wedding Blues And Belles

South African sisters Anne Jones (a year shy of 70), Janey Hulley (72) and Sue Leuner (75) have one thing in common besides genes: their love for swimming.
They have been swimming all their lives, taking part in competitions, splashing around in the oceans, and there is just no stopping them.
“We have more chlorine in our blood than anything else,” laughs Jones, when we meet them on a hot day at the Ellis Park public pools in Johannesburg for the SA Masters National Swimming Championships.
The sisters lost their mother when in their 20s, which helped strengthen their bond. Even though they have their own families – children and grandchildren – they are incredibly close.
Leuner, the eldest, was taught swimming by their father in a fish pond at their home in Melrose in Johannesburg. Last year, at the age of 74, she won gold (in her age group) at the 15th FINA World Masters Championships in Montreal, Canada.
Jones too made swimming a career and now spends all her days by the pool coaching.
“I just love little children and I love swimming and both are my passion,” says Jones. She  does not see it as just a sport.
“It is a very forgiving sport, I used to teach at a cerebral palsy school, and you take these people out of a wheelchair who cannot move even an eyelash, put them in the water and suddenly they have all this movement. It sounds crazy but it’s almost like a spiritual thing, the sound of the water, the feel of the water, and we will go on to do this forever,” says Jones.
“I remember as a child, underwater was a really safe space, and that’s exactly what I feel now. I love to hear the water, feel it on my face,” adds Hulley.
For their age, all three are in fantastic shape, and the secret to a fit body – no prizes for guessing – is swimming about three-four times a week.
“It’s also hard work, but there is nothing like starting the day with a swim. We start at five in the morning, when the moon is still up, and when we get out we feel like we can take over the world. There has never been anyone in all the years I’ve coached that’s got out of the pool and said I wish I hadn’t done that,” says Jones.
The three continue to enter swimming competitions and at any given time, you will find at least one of them surfing the beach in the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal.

SWIM1_0005

‘We Have  More Chlorine In Our Blood’

These designers showcased memorable collections at two recent fashion weeks in Johannesburg – and could well be on their way to becoming famous among South Africa’s swish set.
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<h3>Rich Mnisi/OATH</h3>
This 23-year-old has already won laurels as a young designer, and his collection is distinct and consistent. This season’s offering from OATH is for the female traveler, who wants to leave nothing behind and wear it all on arrival. A must-have for the stylish working woman this season is the cocoon coat.
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<h3>Celeste Arendse/Selfi</h3>
Having launched her brand only six years ago, this young designer is making waves in the fashion industry. Her apparel is inspired by architecture, and the forms and patterns in nature. Selfi is a Cape Town-based label that wants to capture the essence of the eras.
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<h3>Thabo Makhetha</h3>
Lesotho-born South African designer Thabo Makhetha-Kwinana launched her eponymous label in 2009. The brand has since received a number of accolades, including Nelson Mandela Bay’s Top 40 Under 40; she was also Designer of the Year at the ImpAct Awards (Arts &amp; Culture Trust). Makhetha produces unique functional capes and jackets made out of beauteous Basotho blankets, called Kobo Ea Bohali ‘Blankets of Prestige’. The label made its debut at SA Fashion Week Joburg in March.
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<h3>Nelson Makamo, collaborating with House of Olé</h3>
Though not a designer in the true sense, Nelson Makamo is an artiste you need to know and remember. He recently returned from Venice, where he participated at the annual Biennale. He collaborated with Olé Ledimo of House of Olé, who is known for his Savile Row-style classic-cut suits, but for SA Fashion Week, they added a glorious women’s collection.
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<h3>Natasha Jaume &amp; Carina Louw/Erre</h3>
Theirs is a fashion brand specializing in leather, aiming to provide the working woman quality wardrobe staples and investment pieces that can be worn both on and off duty. But at the Spring/Summer 2015 showing of SA Fashion Week, their fashion philosophy took another turn. Erre presented the Myri dress, which can be worn in different ways – we saw atleast 12 looks on the runway. Jaume says there could be more than 30 ways to wear the dress. This was inspired by the woman with a busy lifestyle who wants a simple dress she can wear in different ways for different occasions.

Selfi-pic-by-Chris-Townend

New  Kids On The Fashion Block

Khothatso Tsotetsi, founder of South African fashion brand Tsotetsi KL, kick-started his career soon after university with the singular aim of dressing up distinguished women who value tailoring, quality and style above all else. The young designer opened the Autumn/Winter show of the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Joburg (MBFWJ) in March with his collection, IN-MATE, inspired by the young, chic, distinctive and sophisticated woman. We spent a few moments with him backstage:
How has South Africa received your brand?
It has been warmly welcomed, especially by women with chic distinctive sophistication and who confidently portray stature, transparency and color. We believe that the pride women have, be it internal or external, should be well-articulated through color. We’ve had the privilege of three years (six seasons) in the industry assisting local and international clients in creating awareness that boldness in color, fabric and design is ideal, no matter what the season.
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What makes your collection stand out?
The main fabric is blue velvet: sophisticated, classy, elegant, fragile but still weighted enough to be worn in winter. Embellishments, beads and all other detailing were done by hand, carefully as to not overwhelm, not forgetting the laser cut, high-waist skirts and the elegant wide-brimmed straw hats. We chose cobalt blue in the belief that trends in color also evolve.
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Where do you see South African fashion in the coming years?
At the moment we would say it’s pacing concurrently with Africa. Currently, South African designers are treated more like kids in the international fashion industry. The respect given to designers overseas is more credible, they have influence on a global platform. International fashion comes with bigger budgets and takes opportunities from potential and established South African designers who have limited budgets. On top of that, it’s hard for young South African designers to acquire similar opportunities and experience due to limited investment possibilities.
Luckily, South Africans are starting to acknowledge South African designers to a point where a designer can invest time in finding out more about African fabric and also source resources in South Africa itself.
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What’s an essential item of clothing for women this season?
It will have to be flowy swing dresses or straw hats.
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Tsotetsi KL

Blue Velvet And Straw Hats

I have always been intrigued by sub-Saharan trade. In the interest of understanding caravan journeys better, I made trips to Mali and Morocco to observe their most famous routes. Goods such as gold, ivory – and regretfully, millions of  slaves – were moved from sub-Saharan Africa to Timbuktu, then through the desert and over the Atlas mountains to Marrakech and onto the port of Essaouira, which served as Morocco’s principal port, offering the cargo of the caravans to the world.
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My journey from Casablanca airport to Essaouira was a 400-kilometer ride that passed along the Atlantic sea coast and then inland along plateaus dotted with argan trees endemic to the region and known the world over for its use in producing aromatic oil. It was late in the night when I arrived in Essaouira, an Arabic/Berber medina contained within a European fortress with winding alleys and streets. Finding my seafront hotel was an adventure in itself, in a town with many dead-end alleyways.
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It was a moment of great excitement when I opened my windows, illuminated by the Maghreb sunlight, and realized my room was right on top of the ramparts of the fort overlooking a broad seafront. Later, while walking along the crenellated ramparts of the cannon-lined fort, I could see the city wake up on one side while the finest fisheries off the waters of Morocco were coming alive with boats and attendant gulls on the other. Upon reaching the port, I caught a glimpse of the lives of fishermen who were unloading their large catches of sardines and conger eels; a haul big enough to sustain its economy.
The historic charm of the UNESCO World Heritage listed city is evident in every twist and turn in the maze of pedestrian-only streets that make up the medina. Broken facades and decorative doors open to reveal ancient Kasbahs lined with courtyards and fountains. Essaouira has been in existence in recorded history since the days of imperial Rome, where the purple stripes of the senatorial toga (garment of ancient Rome) came from a dye factory, made from sea snails found here. Ruled by Romans and then by Berber kings, it was swept up under the influence of Islam in the eighth century and ruled by Arab kings until the Portuguese captured it in the 16th century. This was followed by French occupation and it finally came under Moroccan rulers in 1777 when it was declared an independent nation.
This rich history of occupation has provided Essaouira with a French-designed fortress, Genoese-designed port citadels, a classic Arabic medina complete with a royal Kasbah, Jewish mella or quarter and a European enclave.
Walking through its winding streets I could see Arabic, French and Spanish influences in the architecture.
Essaouira’s real beginning as an import-export center came in the 1770s when the sultan of Morocco appointed families from Casablanca, Marrakech and other northern cities to settle here and become official royal traders to conduct trade with Europe and the Americas. It has been noted that seven of the town’s leading families in the 19th century were Muslim, while 25 were Jews, who once comprised 40% of the population.
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The homes of former Jewish traders and the synagogue reveal themselves through Hebrew carvings on the door lintels.
The souk area was quite interesting with many shops selling spices, wood carvings and cabinetry. Unlike the bustle found in the souks of Marrakesh, the pace here was very relaxed under the warm sunlight and a steady breeze from the ocean. The fort area has more upscale shops while the souks had a classic Arabic atmosphere. The delicious seafood available in restaurants around the harbor was absolutely amazing and at very reasonable prices. I found men here wearing the classic djellabas and women walking around in colorful qmis (long jacket) covering their baggy pants.
Essaouira is best reached from Marrakesh by road and can be covered as a day trip. Emirates Airline can fly one to Morocco from any big African city via Dubai.
With its unspoilt beaches, luxurious hotels, wonderful cafes and seafood restaurants, Essaouira is fast becoming a must-visit destination. Morocco has a lot to offer. In this context, Essaouira is often ignored. But for the intrepid traveler, it offers a special place where the caravans of the Sahara finally emptied its wares for the world to consume.

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Where Africa’s Caravans Were Headed

When it comes to being heard in the boardroom or during a presentation, can a woman sound authoritative enough, without raising her voice?
Experts say yes she can – by using her voice as a secret weapon.
Durban psychologist Claire Newton, also a speaker, trainer and life coach, says a well-modulated voice ensures the listener not just pays attention to it, but also enjoys it.
For a woman, a lower pitch is key – in relation to a man’s deeper voice – when it comes to delivering a message.
Luckily, African women naturally have deeper voices in comparison with their Western or Asian counterparts.
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“Pitch is culturally taught. German women tend to have a lower pitch than Californian women who have high-pitched voices&#8230;African women already have the advantage of a lower pitch, while Oriental or Asian women have a higher pitch.”
But what is not advisable?
“If you speak in a squeak or cutesy voice, you will never make it through those meetings. It’s similar to a child’s high-pitched voice and no one will take your message seriously,” warns Newton.
She adds that if a voice is too high-pitched it becomes unpleasant and the audience will simply block it out.
“For a high-level executive woman, it’s necessary to train your voice to a lower pitch,” says Newton, adding there are four facts to voice control: volume (loud or soft), pitch (high or low), tone (warm or cold/brisk) and speed.
Monique Harrisberg, CEO of The Voice Clinic in South Africa, says women must not make the mistake of believing they will be heard by raising their voice.
“Speaking loudly tightens the vocal chords and creates a harsh flat quality.
“Lowering your pitch and rounding your vowels can bring a rich warm quality to your voice. Oprah is a perfect example, she has a rich voice with [an] open body language.”
The voice is a tool which can be used to project all sorts of messages – 38% of any communication is vocal.
“Similar to choosing your bag or shoes in the morning ahead of a meeting, it’s just as important to be conscious of what your vocal quality is going to be like,” says Harrisberg.
And it seems women across the business spectrum are becoming increasingly aware of the power of their voice.
Tuletu Njengele, Deputy Director at Ikhala Public FET College in East London, says voice training helped her confidence levels.
“For a lot of women in executive positions, there are small things we overlook which can have a great impact on how we portray ourselves. Voice is one of these and it’s like an engine – you have to warm it up in the morning with exercises,” says Njengele.
“It’s amazing to see how controlling your voice can affect both your business and personal life. I have found it reduces stress levels, as I’ve learned how to control my breathing. It gives you a chance to consider your reply and deliver it in a controlled, confident way,” says Hannalie Marsh, a marketing director, who completed a course in voice training. She says it also improved her listening skills as she now waits before she replies.
“Putting color in your voice, such as lowering your pitch, can make a big impact. I have tested out different pitches, pace, tone, volume and it’s been very interesting to see the different reactions from audiences depending on these factors,” says Marsh.
Both Newton and Harrisberg also emphasize it’s important to drop your ‘ums’ and ‘ahs’ out of sentences.

shutterstock_224725123

Lung Power?

It’s a strange sight. A warehouse stacked to the roof with African art on the side of Jan Smuts Avenue, the busy road in Johannesburg, South Africa. Looking slightly out of place, in a checked black and white top with matching skirt, is entrepreneur Lara Tatley, the owner of this warehouse, togu’na.
“togu’na is the name of the meeting house found in the centre of every Dogon village in Mali. It’s a low ceiling building where the village elders sit to make decisions about village life. We chose the name because we liked the idea of a meeting house, the idea of connecting people from around the world with crafters from Africa,” says Tatley. Born in Bloemfontein but raised in Johannesburg, Tatley spent 10 years traveling the remote villages of Africa to negotiate with crafters for eyecatching bowls, calabashes and masks. It’s proved a good, offbeat business. So much so she featured in the GIBS/Goldman-Sachs 10,000 Women program for Women Entrepreneurs.
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Her first taste of art was on a school field trip to a bronze casting studio just outside of Pretoria.
“I remember walking in there and seeing all these mystical forms encased in the casting; the furnaces and all the old moulds in the roof. The foundry is pretty dark because it needs to get hot inside. I remember the rays of light coming in off the dust. It was such a powerful field trip.
“I always wanted to make things and I used to get very frustrated when I tried to make the things the same way the adults made them. One of the barriers in my way to being an artist was that the idea of what I wanted to make and the reality of what I made were far apart from each other.”
From Australia to New York, her pieces end up in the foyers of the best hotels and as decor in powerful boardrooms.
“I always wanted to run my own business. I studied Fine Arts at university but didn’t really feel like I could be a sculptor…I wanted to do something with handmade craft art. It is something inspirational to me and I wanted that to combine with traveling the world. I was fortunate to start with a very small business that grew into a sizable business.”
It’s difficult to say how much the African art industry is worth, says Tatley. There is very little marketing research and most crafters in remote villages don’t keep records.
“Our inventory alone you would be looking at a couple of millions, excluding assets. It is difficult to assign a value because we invest a lot of capital with crafters so they can afford to make pieces,” she says.
Dealing in African art is more than just getting goods from maker to mantel piece, says Tately. It’s a risky and unpredictable job.
“African craft is not your typical retail outlet. Stock comes in from the far corners of Africa; really rural areas and collected along many channels to get to this place. People can only collect in areas where there is no conflict. It’s very seasonal; if it’s rainy season, those rural areas where the goods are produced it’s too difficult to get to them; if its harvest season, the women are harvesting and they can’t be weaving. If there is a drought there is often an influx of things as people come into the cities to try sell their goods. There is a very long caravan until it gets to this point,” says Tatley.
Customs can also hamstring business. Delays are like mosquitoes on the Serengeti, and just as irritating. Last year, a container in Cameroon was frozen in port for four months because of a backlog. In those four months, the pieces risk being ruined by mould, amid the humid docks.
“Luckily the wood was dry. It still needed to go through South Africa customs. The turnaround time for that container was over a year.”
Another unfortunate incident at a customs office in Cameroon almost ended in Tatley’s husband, Duncan, being arrested for ‘illegally smuggling’ art out the country. Since then the couple travel with a blue hard suitcase, and if the goods don’t fit in it, they freight it.
“The process of Africa customs is just so corrupt. In Africa, no one knows what the rules are. You could get an argumentative customs official like we had…People rely on going backwards and forwards and paying bribes. Even if there is a permit there is no guarantee it won’t be confiscated. It’s all kind of a backdoor process.”
Exporting is a problem. The United States demand wood to be catalogued before coming into the country; a next to impossible task when villagers can’t name the wood they use.
The wobbling South African currency makes matters worse. Often the fluctuating exchange rate means the business loses out.
The risk is part of the allure.
“In African art, forms and shapes are reproduced within societies. The crafters’ names aren’t attached to those pieces. The shape of the piece belongs to the whole society. But you can see when a shape has been made by somebody’s skilled hands,” says Tatley.
“In Africa, typically one guy would be in charge of a few people who would go into the forest then buy a tree from a family; cut down the tree; carve the majority of the piece in the forest because the wood is so heavy and the forest is dense you can’t move it out. The cost of labor in Africa is relatively high compared to the productivity…It probably comes down to efficiency and transport. We still get things that come from villages that you can only get to via a footpath. They are very remote and the only way they can get transported is on a cart with an ox, to a place where a truck or a taxi can move it.”
Then there is the haggle.
“If you have no intention to buy don’t even say ‘how much is this?’ If you do, it’s an indication that the games have begun. It’s a cultural thing throughout Africa. To say a price that is usually too low for a person to contemplate and then walk away is a very disrespectful way of negotiating.”
The uniqueness about the products is that they do all have a story.
“None of them were made for decorative purposes. Artefacts, by the nature of being an artefact, were made for a reason to fulfil a need in the community that they were originally produced in. They’ve had one lifetime of use in that community and then get changed and adapted in this one.”
Not all African art is equal. Crafters can be crafty when it comes to forgeries and will mass-produce work for tourists, cautions Tatley. To many, an original versus a fake may not mean much, but to the true collector, that story behind the piece is as interesting as the piece itself.
“If you compare prices today to 15 years ago, there is not much difference. The prices haven’t risen. Primarily this is because of an influx of African rooftop markets where the goods are not the best quality,” says Tatley.
If it’s for the love of art, Tatley will risk customs officials to travel Africa and drive a bargain in the middle of nowhere.

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The Story of African Art

As the lights dimmed and the percussionists performed, Nhlanhla Nciza dramatically appeared on the ramp, in an NN Vintage outfit (her designer line), flanked by two male dancers.
Nciza, a style icon and one half of Afropop band Mafikizolo, belted out Vimba Kanjini from their latest album, Reunited, to the beat of the drums at the recent Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Joburg.
The lights came on and Nciza sashayed the ramp showing off her latest designs,  thus re-launching NN Vintage. She was followed by a bevy of celebrities and models wearing her collection aptly named, The Evolution, an eclectic mix of bold bright fabrics from Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria, Malawi, Kenya and South Africa.
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“I tried to create a look that can compete internationally, also mixing it up with sequences here and there,” says Nciza, who was featured on the cover of the August/September issue of FORBES WOMAN AFRICA.
“It’s an everyday look and I didn’t want to use the vintage look, even though the brand is known for that.”
The designer worked with four seamstresses for the line using materials bought on her travels across the continent as part of Mafikizolo’s music tours. The collection was made up of 34 garments, including a mix of ready-to-wear and high fashion frocks.
Nciza has more news.
“We’re also creating a sub-brand of NN Vintage called Urban Vintage, which will be sold at one of the stores in South Africa. It’s a more affordable range and will appeal to a younger audience.”
NN Vintage had made its debut in 2008 at Audi Fashion Week Johannesburg. The re-launch follows Nciza’s sabbatical creating bespoke outfits for clients whilst focusing on her career as a solo artiste. During this break, she learned more about the African fashion industry, before deciding her next act.

CTP7808

Nhlanhla Nciza 2.0

Khanyisile Kweyama is dynamite in a petite package. She is the first black woman to be appointed Executive Director for South Africa at Anglo American, the world’s biggest platinum producer. She has also staked her claim in the mining sector as the current Vice President of the Chamber of Mines in South Africa, and has recently responded to the call to national duty, taking on a seconded role as the CEO of Business Unity South Africa (BUSA).
We meet Kweyama in the offices of CNBC Africa in Sandton in Johannesburg for a quick coffee and her thoughts on how she broke barriers to become a player in South African mining’s big boys’ club.
In 2014, when the country was in the throes of its longest and costliest strike in the platinum mining sector, Kweyama and her team were right at the front, desperately trying to put out the fire tearing into the country’s investment case.
She recalls the unusual phone call from Anglo’s global CEO, Cynthia Carroll, to confirm dinner arrangements in the midst of this storm. Although she expected her local insight would be sought to protect the company, its workers, and keep communication alive with the unions, she didn’t expect to leave dinner as the company’s Executive Director.
“As the Human Resources Executive, I thought I had a clear line of sight into the company’s succession pipeline. I didn’t see this coming,” she says.
Black empowerment in South Africa keeps a close tab on black appointments. Naysayers were quick to point out that hers was another window-dressing move on the part of the company.
“This is going to be an issue that women, and black women in particular, are going to have to take on boldly and without flinching. There is expectation for us to prove ourselves over and beyond our capabilities. Create your niche and outperform,” says Kweyama.
When she received the call to serve as the CEO of BUSA, she says the enormity of South Africa’s economic stagnation made her firm up her decision. She accepted.
As CEO, she has to bridge the yawning silence between business, government and other stakeholders.
“The country is stuck. We need to do something to move beyond the anemic growth phase we’re in. No one can do it alone.”
Her typical day includes meeting with union leaders, participating in ministerial and presidential deliberations, taking the lead on capturing the input of business, contributing to NEDLAC (the body tasked with finding a middle ground around South Africa’s labor tensions), and all the while, working at the chamber of mines with a broader team to reinvigorate life into a struggling industry.
Kweyama is accountable to a range of ministers. Her roles spill outside of the borders as BUSA also participates in regional and international fora in a myriad Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) initiatives that fight for better trade terms for the region and emerging markets.
For a woman comfortable juggling numerous roles and making decisions that impact on a range of organizations, she prefers the backseat at home.
“My husband is the boss at home. He’s a medical doctor and he lives in his own world. He too has significant industry challenges that he has taken a lead on but we try not to bring our corporate challenges home.”
If there ever was a prize for the strangest love story, Kweyama and Cyril would take it hands down.
It goes thus.
She had needed a flu shot and called on a friend to administer it. Unable to do so because she was in the salon having her hair done, her friend arranged for Kweyama to come to the salon, for the flu shot to be delivered, and for Cyril to administer it. That was the beginning of their love story.
Kweyama’s family is her biggest support. She is a mother to eight children, of which two are her biological offspring. She is also a spiritual mother to many through her church and community.
“Prayer keeps me going. I always pray for guidance and when I get stuck I have to remind Him that we haven’t come this far to be stopped by this nonsense. Show me how to surmount this hurdle.”
Luckily for Kweyama, her prayers seem to be helping.

IMG_9354

No Small Feat In The Big Boys’ Club

Across the continent, we are failing to get girls and women interested in IT,” says Ghanaian IT entrepreneur Enyonam Kumahor, who has been in tech for many years. Besides running her own firm, the Cobalt Partners, she is the co-founder of Ghana Women in IT (GWITT), a platform providing Ghanaian women working in technology an opportunity to network and share experiences, whilst encouraging others.
“Half of the African population is female, yet the number of women in tech is less than one per cent of the continent’s total IT workforce,” says Kumahor. She stresses that this however does not mean that the entire region is under-performing.
“Ghana is doing well. We have various women running their own very successful IT businesses. Others are heading large tech companies. Mobile phone operators Airtel and Tigo are headed by women, and so is the Ghanaian branch of Microsoft. Kenya is not doing bad either. In South Africa, on the other hand, there is a genuine lack of diversity. This is worrisome,” she says.
Statistics by the South African Institute of Information Technology Professionals confirm Kumahor’s statements. The data shows that women in the Rainbow Nation hold 20% of all professional tech jobs. The global percentage stands at 56%.
There are several reasons behind the poor appetite for tech amongst Africa’s female population.
“There is a sense that tech is too difficult for women, that it is a guys’ environment, and that we can’t be mothers, wives, and software developers,” says Kumahor.
“Female science students are often pushed into more traditional fields. Medicine and engineering are all seen as more preferable to IT. We need to demystify technology and make it more accessible to girls and women. We need to start harnessing the female interest from a young age, for instance by developing school programs that make tech fun.”
While men have a definite responsibility in opening up the field of IT to women in Africa, they are not the sole role players, Kumahor stresses.
“There is a shortage of visible and vocal female role models in IT. Women who have made it in technology, should show their faces more. They are too quiet,” she says. “I don’t hear many established tech women from Africa talking about giving up-and-coming counterparts a chance. Personally, I think that each and every successful female IT professional should take a couple of newcomers under her wings, and mentor and inspire them intentionally. This is not yet happening. GWITT hopes to play a part in changing this and persuade women to get involved.”

Tag: April 2015

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