Tragedy struck South Africa in the early hours of Sunday morning as unknown gunmen opened fire on a tavern in Soweto, Johannesburg, leaving at least 14 dead and nine wounded.



At around shortly after midnight in Orlando East, men armed with rifles and pistols entered the bar and began firing randomly at patrons sitting inside.



&#8220;Primary investigations suggest the people were enjoying themselves in the tavern… They just came in and shot at them randomly,&#8221; said Gauteng Police Commissioner Elias Mawela, confirming the incident.



Twelve persons reportedly passed away at the scene, and two others after arriving at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital.



The shooting is the second to occur at a tavern in South Africa in the last day, with another occurring in a tavern in Pietermaritzburg leaving four dead and eight wounded. This is coming two weeks after 21 teenagers died during another tavern incident in East London, a city on the southeast coast of South Africa.



Investigations are ongoing.

Restaurants and bars may sell alcohol on weekends amid lockdown level 2

South Africa Rocked By Mass Shooting In Soweto

The newly-established delivery app industry in Tanzania is serving up old business in a new format, diversifying the e-commerce market and driving consumer behavior beyond Covid-19.



When Zadok Prescott first started the home delivery application, Piki Tanzania, he only thought of it as a supplement to restaurant dining. However, when Tanzania also fell victim to the Covid-19 crisis in March, Piki, which was still new and the only established app of its kind in the country, soon became the only way some restaurants were doling out their services.



“I think a lot of people took that decision to stay at home and avoid contact. So, we suddenly realized how important we were becoming,” says Prescott, also former CEO of Jumia Tanzania.



At the end of November 2019, Jumia, Africa’s leading online retailer known as the ‘Amazon of Africa’, had shut its e-commerce operations in Tanzania in a review of its portfolio.



However, ironically, since the beginning of 2020, in the very market that Jumia exited, multiple e-commerce platforms suddenly sprung up, from food and grocery delivery apps to ‘online malls’ that sell commercial goods, besieging a market still relatively new to online shopping and dining.



With Covid-19, the role these platforms played in the lives of local businesses changed almost overnight.



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For Levant, a fine dining restaurant offering Middle Eastern cuisine in upscale Dar es Salaam, delivery was not the path they wanted to take, but had to.



“When Covid-19 hit, our sales were 90% lower. Our plan was to give an experience, it’s not only the food you eat… [but] we realized people were afraid, so we had to focus on delivery… take-away was most of our sales,” says Hussein T Hamadi, the owner of Levant, which started delivering through Piki when the pandemic hit and even started its own delivery service.



Although this is the path Levant opted, Hamadi does not see delivery and e-commerce playing a significant role in his business with restaurants now reopening in full swing in the country.



Piki surely has an advantage in the country with its reliable infrastructure and experience, but the commissions are not reasonable in Hamadi’s opinion, since his own delivery service costs him much less.



He would rather people came into his restaurant because this is part of the service he wants to offer.



In addition to that, Hamadi is opening yet another restaurant, with a more delivery-friendly menu and where he hopes e-commerce may be more feasible.



On the other hand, Central Park Café, an American-style café and children’s park and venue that also works with Piki, does not see any way in which businesses, going forward, can avoid e-commerce.



“During these times, people rely on [Piki]… it’s basically a lot of the weight lifted off us for the pressure because it is a very tough market and things are very unpredictable here,” says Sidiqua Versi, co-owner of the café.



The fact that the liability for deliveries is also no longer her problem is an advantage, she adds.



Versi agrees the delivery and commission fees are not reasonable for all, and individual delivery is far more financially sustainable, but an app like Piki is reliable and she would rather keep working with them to use their customer base and keep her service timely and efficient.



However, she has noticed customers opting for cheaper options and more players foraying into the market with unique business models.



<figure class="wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-3 is-layout-flex"><ul class="blocks-gallery-grid"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-06-at-2.50.32-PM-1024x683.jpeg" alt="" data-id="47148" data-full-url="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-06-at-2.50.32-PM.jpeg" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=47148" class="wp-image-47148" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-06-at-2.50.32-PM-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-06-at-2.50.32-PM-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-06-at-2.50.32-PM-600x400.jpeg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-06-at-2.50.32-PM-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-06-at-2.50.32-PM.jpeg 1080w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></li></ul></figure>



New players, renewed approaches



Duka.direct is an online grocery delivery service that runs on a platform created by Selcom Tanzania, a digital payment system developer that also saw a very quick change in consumer behavior when Covid-19 gripped the country.



“The adoption was a lot faster than we had anticipated and we even had to accelerate deployment quite rapidly,” says Sameer Hirji, Executive Director of Selcom. It is planning to expand to a range of services to include restaurant food delivery, as well as connecting to businesses selling electronics, pharmaceuticals and other items, eventually throughout the region. However, its approach is not only controlling the supply of products, but in the long run, seeing itself as more than just being a customer experience and service provider.



“We’re thinking like a financial services business, but using consumer goods and services… We want to hopefully one day make e-commerce extremely mainstream and as a result, for the common man, who previously couldn’t afford maybe cheese, because it was marked up at like 30% at a supermarket, to be able to access those premium products and consume them more readily and rapidly,” he says.



He hopes to eventually pilot using Selcom’s widely-used payment agents to act as sales and pickup points, as well as introduce lending on the apps to allow customers to buy goods by borrowing from banks Selcom has relationships with.



“At least initially, [duka.direct] can be a standalone business [not making much profit]. But it needs to be part of something bigger that can feed it, and then continuously grow it…



“I think raising awareness and giving back value is where we see the market going,” he adds.



The biggest problem Hirji’s platform did face during the time was running out of space and local suppliers who were not able to keep up with the demand.



“That right image in the market matters in terms of what the delivery, the last mile, looks like… [and] to a great extent the optics it presents in the market in terms of brand and professionalism,” says Hirji.



However, there are players in the market like Inalipa, a platform that mimics an ‘online mall’ with a variety of local shops and brands, ranging from Instagram businesses to large retailers, that has internalized all operations.



“I’m sure our competitors, because of our model, have much higher volumes than us. But the experience that the customer gets with us is something that stands out… We’re able to control the entire customer experience. And I think for us, that’s the big differentiator,” says Nadeem Juma, chairman of AIM group, which developed and runs Inalipa.



Inalipa also takes a slightly different approach by aggregating retail suppliers and leveraging their brands. While Juma says it was initially not easy to bring them on, Covid-19 forced Inalipa to be able to tell them a story of how this would impact their business positively.



“Trading is actually what the bulk of Tanzanian business is built on… it’s really old business in a new format. And that’s the way we look at it… We aren’t trying to change the culture or the way a consumer purchases traditionally; we are enabling that same experience on a digital platform,” he adds.



&nbsp;But even with trying to maximize customer satisfaction, Juma found that the number one question among customers who went through the process of putting items in their cart was that they weren’t sure if they could trust the platform.



“Right now, we’re realizing that people are the early adopters, starting off with very small basket sizes and now those basket sizes are growing.”



Duka.direct provides store credit and uses marketing to build credibility and confidence and Inalipa uses customer service calls to encourage people to go through with purchases.



“What [Covid-19] showed us is there’s enough space in the market for different players as long as they’re very focused on what they’re trying to achieve and not trying to do a little bit of everything,” says Juma.



The direct contact and understanding of the local market is a large advantage to players in the market, according to Prescott, and is what differentiates them.



<figure class="wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-5 is-layout-flex"><ul class="blocks-gallery-grid"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-06-at-2.50.37-PM-1024x683.jpeg" alt="" data-id="47152" data-full-url="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-06-at-2.50.37-PM.jpeg" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/economy/2020/08/19/tanzanias-recent-app-boom-a-new-market-for-e-commerce/attachment/whatsapp-image-2020-07-06-at-2-50-37-pm/" class="wp-image-47152" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-06-at-2.50.37-PM-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-06-at-2.50.37-PM-300x200.jpeg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-06-at-2.50.37-PM-600x400.jpeg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-06-at-2.50.37-PM-768x512.jpeg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-06-at-2.50.37-PM.jpeg 1080w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure></li></ul></figure>



Looking into the future



Both Hirji and Juma acknowledge that the global valuation-driven approach to e-commerce, which was Jumia’s too, is not necessarily the approach that can work in Tanzania.



“I don’t believe that that is the appropriate way to go about e-commerce because you really cannot raise money at that scale continuously to be sustainable. You have to make it a profitable business… You need to identify what are the levers, one of the things that you want to drive, and then map that out over a period of time” says Juma.



Being in the digital space does allow you to pivot faster, according to Hirji.



And this can be especially useful in navigating the regulatory landscape in Tanzania because of the penetration of mobile money, in Juma’s opinion.



“It’s a highly regulated space. So you need to be aware of what you can and can’t do. And sometimes that can be what could slow you down… But I think it also allows you to contribute to the actual country’s growth as well.”



However, Tanzania is still a difficult market, with about 60% market share in terms of smartphones in the country and utilization under 20%, and if the penetration is further discounted by the number of people who will actually swap their traditional practices for an e-commerce experience, then that drops even more, says Hirji.



Such data is available, but not in much detail about e-commerce, mostly because of how the market has diversified only recently in the country.



Juma believes there is a greater good if everyone is a bit more open and transparent in sharing their experience of this business, as Inalipa’s data collection has shown customer sets that he didn’t know existed.



While Prescott acknowledges Jumia did educate the Tanzanian market on the e-commerce experience, there is a long way to go in terms of how consumer behavior will change or adapt in the country to prove sustainable beyond e-commerce being a critical service in the time of Covid-19.



“It’s certainly beyond just your traditional corner store saying, ‘I want to go digital because everyone else is going online’. I think there’s a roadmap that’s a lot more sophisticated than just a Shopify storefront,” says Hirji.&nbsp;



– By Inaara Gangji

WhatsApp Image 2020-07-06 at 2.50.39 PM

Tanzania’s Recent App Boom: A New Market For E-Commerce

As one of the top global hotspots for the coronavirus, South Africa has taken a hit with an economy in tatters. With its Covid caseload dropping gradually, the country will return to some form of normalcy from Tuesday in an attempt to salvage businesses and maintain livelihoods.



“The move to Level 2 means we can remove nearly all of the restrictions on the resumption of economic activity across most industries,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced to the nation in a televized address at the weekend.



From tomorrow, August 18, the country will shift gear to the new reality. &nbsp;



It’s a move the restaurant industry welcomes with open arms – and open tables.



The advancement to Level 2 means that the controversial suspension of alcohol sales has been lifted. Although the curfew remains more or less the same, from 10PM to 4AM, lifting the alcohol ban does add some relief to licensed establishments, such as restaurants and pubs, which can now at least attempt to start salvaging what is left of their businesses.



“There is a bit of light at the end of a very dark and long tunnel with regards to the fact that we can now sell alcohol. The curfew is still not late enough but this is still a win,” says founder and CEO of the Rockets Group, Sean Barber, to FORBES AFRICA.



The Rockets Group, with 12 establishments across South Africa, was one of the restaurants most affected. In mid-July, it was forced to temporarily close its biggest branch in one of Gauteng’s most opulent residential suburbs, Bryanston. This was because it generated most of its revenue through the sale of alcohol. But Level 2 means it can now reopen.



“It’s not going to be easy and it is going to cause some damage but definitely not as much damage as before,” Barber says.



Other restaurants, however, are not as optimistic. The Irish Pub franchise, The Brazen Head, endured the burden of Covid-19 from the beginning as it remained closed since the announcement of the first lockdown in March. It only predicts a reopening in September.



“Just because they have lifted the alcohol ban does not mean it is going to work out for us,” says The Brazen Head’s owner Ralph Rojahn. “I can already tell you that they are contradicting themselves by saying we can serve alcohol but the curfew starts at 10PM. This means that actually I can only serve alcohol until about 8PM to 9PM so that my staff can be home by 10PM.”



Restaurant Association of South Africa (RASA) CEO Wendy Alberts says the hard lockdown has put a strain on several restaurants in South Africa that have had to permanently close their doors.&nbsp;



RASA ran a survey in which 23,000 restaurants across South Africa participated. Of that, 30% stated they have closed their doors while 50% said they do not know if they will be able to reopen due to massive overheads and debt.



“I am very heartsore for those restaurants that have lost their businesses and staff that have lost their jobs. So although this appears to be a win, there actually is no win in this space because people have lost, and people have been hurt,” Alberts says.



When Ramaphosa announced on June 17 that restaurants would be allowed to reopen under an “advanced” Level 3 lockdown, allowing for businesses to operate normally but with strict safety measurements in place, this was the hope the industry needed to save jobs and the industry as a whole.



However, plans changed quickly when the president announced on July 12 that alcohol sales would be immediately banned and that the curfew was back, leaving many restaurateurs in dire straits again.



“I know that the pandemic has shattered our industry and put all of us in deep economic trouble but the one thing I know about each and every person in the restaurant industry in South Africa is that you are incredible, you are amazing, and I have such respect for your fight and willpower to keep pushing through,” Alberts says.



The Beer Association of South Africa (BASA) also welcomed the re-opening of the sale of alcohol under Alert Level 2 of the lockdown, especially for restaurants, bars, and taverns.



According to BASA’s data, from March 27 to May 31, 8,000 licensed taverns and 30% of craft breweries have been left bankrupt. A further 15% craft breweries and thousands more taverns have had to shut down permanently due to the second ban in July.



“Therefore critical that we do not ever have a repeat of the situation we had on 12 July 2020, where an immediate ban on the legal trade in alcohol was announced – without the industry being given any prior warning or opportunity to engage,” Patricia Pillay, BASA CEO, says.



The advancement to Level 2 means South Africans can now also buy cigarettes after a five-month ban following the announcement of the National State of Disaster on March 23.



“We can now smoke cigarettes but we must not share them,” said Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma at a media briefing on August 17.



Tobacco company Philip Morris South Africa has welcomed the government’s decision to lift the ban on tobacco products and e-cigarettes, as it will be reopening its 24 IQOS retail stores.



The following facilities may also now reopen under Level 2 but are limited to only 50 people at a time: gyms, health facilities, casinos, cinemas and theaters.



Social gatherings such as weddings and funerals are now allowed but again limited to 50 people.



Interprovincial travel is now permitted, but international travel is still prohibited. Local tourism is open for business.



But there are still questions on the safety of advancing to Level 2. The concerns stem from the fact that South Africa has the fifth-highest number of <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?p=43281">confirmed cases</a> on the global list of countries with the most infections.



Moreover, the State of Disaster was set to lapse on June 15, and Dlamini-Zuma extended it to September 15, to allow the government to continue to respond to “the threat of the virus to public health, the healthcare system, and the economy”.



“When we further open the economy it doesn’t mean that the risks are lower, it just means that we are trying to balance people’s livelihoods by opening the economy,” said Dlamini-Zuma.



Ramaphosa sounded hopeful, though, as he stated in his address that the country is making progress in its fight to mitigate the spread of the virus.



“Over the last three weeks, the number of new confirmed cases has dropped from a peak of over 12,000 a day to an average over the past week of around 5,000 a day. The recovery rate from coronavirus has risen from 48% at the time of my last address and now stands at 80%,” he said.



“We have proven our resilience as a nation over the past five months. The task before us now is to apply the same energies with which we have battled this pandemic to the economic recovery effort.”

Cyril-Ramaphosa_GL

Mixed Feelings As South Africa Enters Level 2 Of Lockdown

Dinesh Patel had a solid plan: go to the United States (US), play professional golf and win a PGA tournament. His dream took shape when he earned a sport scholarship to study at Florida State University. When he got there he realized that it was going to be tough.
“It’s incredibly competitive and I don’t think that I was good enough, to be honest. But I also don’t think that I wanted it badly enough&#8230; Those guys are good, they work so hard and they were willing to sacrifice so much more than I was willing to sacrifice,” he says.
Patel, the son of a doctor and teacher from Durban, South Africa, decided to focus on his business studies but flirted with the idea of a career in the music business. In his final years at university, he worked as a campus label representative for Warner Brothers’ Electro Records.
“You throw parties and you get access to all the new music and you basically build these artists on a street level.”
When it came down to a career, Patel followed the money. His first job was in Atlanta where he worked as a senior consultant for Deloitte.
“On the day I joined, I think I knew that this wasn’t for me. But it was a great training ground because you learn so much about reading financial statements and understanding the mechanics of business.”
Two years later, he worked as a banker, at the peak of the financial crisis, for Goldman Sachs in New York.
It was here that Patel came across the innovative virtual canteen, Seamless. Patel made use of Seamless to order food on the nights he worked late in the office. The company initially focused on corporates but when they branched out, catering for everyone, business boomed. The concept of Seamless remained at the back of Patel’s mind and resurfaced years later.
After 10 years in the US, Patel returned to South Africa. He had many job offers and pursued his own business ventures but struggled to find his feet.
Through it all, he kept hearing his parent’s voice ringing in his head.
“Dinesh, first you wanted to be a golfer, now you’re not a golfer, then you wanted to be an accountant, now you’re not an to accountant, then you wanted to be a trader, now you’re not a trader, then you wanted to be an actor, well now you’re not an actor. What do you want? Can you just stick to something?”
Tired and on the brink of giving up, Patel experienced his epiphany. It came while he was lounging on his parent’s couch, in Cape Town, and the conversation was about dinner. It came down to two options: chicken from Nando’s or pizza from Panarottis.
“That’s when I immediately thought ‘there must be more options, if we had Seamless here it would be so good.’”
That night, Patel dashed out to meet Joseph Okleberry, who would become an investor. He had relocated from the US to South Africa to work as an internet strategist for Naspers. Okleberry brought his expertise of the web to the table.
Their conversation went something like this: “Joe you used Seamless, I used Seamless. Do you think something like this would work in South Africa?”
Okleberry was keen on the idea and the two men spent the rest of the evening drawing up the plan for OrderIn – an online food ordering service. It would partner with companies that offered delivery and customers would pay restaurant prices. In return, OrderIn would charge restaurants 8%.
Patel spent the next three months researching. He sent a proposal to Jason Finger, the founder of Seamless in the US, who jumped in.
“Jason brought in his development team from Seamless so we had all of their experience to build OrderIn from scratch. We used their experience and avoided some of the mistakes they had made. It was fascinating to see what a website that does a quarter million orders a day looks like,” says Patel.
Hennie Booysen, who worked for Skype in London and is also a co-founder of Groupon, joined the team as a co-founder. He brought his expertise in the e-commerce space.
With the help from an investor at Naspers and a hedge fund in New York, OrderIn secured the capital.
Patel formed a team of five who worked on the website for eight months, from a house in Camps Bay in Cape Town. As the launch neared, there were nerves.
Then the first order rang in.
“Everyone freaked out! We were like ‘oh my gosh there’s actually an order,’” says Patel.
The customer, who was working late at Investec, had a craving for sushi. Everything was running as planned. The order appeared on the OrderIn system, the machine at the sushi bar had printed the receipt and the customer received notification that the order would take 45 minutes. There was only one problem; the sushi bar had no delivery man.
“I raced from my house to the restaurant, picked up the food and dropped it off at the customer,” says Patel.
The guy told Patel, dressed casually, that he didn’t look like a delivery guy. Patel spun the story that as the first customer he received a special delivery from the founder and CEO.
Although OrderIn has had its fair share of hiccups, it has not deterred them. By next year, they would have signed 650 restaurants.
Patel says many overlook the cost of staff, maintaining a website and customer service when calculating profits.
“A lot of guys coming into the market are pricing themselves very cheaply, one to three percent. But the reality of it is that’s not a sustainable business model.”
When it comes to business, the 32-year-old founder and CEO of OrderIn doesn’t worry much, as he relies on the expertise of his team.
“I’m always the stupidest guy in the room. My investors and our team are so much smarter than me, that makes running a business so much easier.”
From sportsman to banker and now online food, Patel is happy he kept moving forward.
“I’ve always had this hustle. I want to do something on my own; I want to create something… When you are in a large corporate environment you don’t feel like you’re in control and as an entrepreneur, I think you want to feel like you are in control. You want to feel like you’ve got a say in your destiny.”
So, if at first you don’t succeed, try everything, try anything but try, try and try again.

‘I’m Always The  Stupidest Guy In The Room’

Jonathan Liebmann is 29, owns 25 buildings and has lived on five of the seven continents. Now, he has made his nest in a small corner on the east side of the most vibrant city in Africa—Johannesburg.
Johannesburg city was established in 1886, as a farm where gold miners from all over the globe came to make their money. That is where it got the name Egoli—meaning place of gold. In decades to follow, it became the shopping mecca of Gauteng’s elite. Today, all the big banks and businesses have relocated to the northern suburbs and the new tenants are mostly African immigrants looking for a place to make a living; the streets are busy, there are shops at every turn and a multitude of languages in the CBD.
There is a sign that hangs between two buildings on his street, it reads Maboneng— meaning place of lights in Sesotho. It’s a fitting description for a beacon in the middle of a city plagued by crime, dilapidated buildings and grim life. Just down the road, there’s a men’s hostel where even the police are afraid to go.
Liebmann is rejuvenating the east’s run down image one building at a time. The corner coffee shops, restaurants, independent movie house and boutique hotel are abuzz as you walk the streets of Maboneng Precinct.
He has just bought his 25th building, which he will convert into apartments. We stand on the roof of the new building looking down onto another flat roof. Two recycling vendors are having lunch on a two plate stove, they are surrounded by recycled bags containing plastic bottles. This is one of the many facets of Johannesburg hustle.
You could say the streets behind Liebmann are a playground for his entrepreneurial mind.
<div id="attachment_1283" style="width: 210px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1283" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-medium wp-image-1283" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/380-380_1-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" />Property developer Jonathan Liebmann, Johannesburg; 19 July 2012 &#8211; Photo by Brett Eloff.</div>
Liebmann’s entrepreneurial spirit is as young as many of the buildings are old. He made his first profit at 18, at a time when most people hadn’t even thought about buying their first car, let alone buy one. He had bought, renovated and resold an apartment and at 21 he turned an old factory into an office for rent.
“When I was 18, I realized I wanted to be involved in property. I went to university but while I was [there] I started investing in property on a small level. I bought my first apartment that I renovated, with the bank’s money, and then I just worked my way up from there… I enjoy being the pioneer and taking the first steps, so for me that risk was an attraction. And at the same time I was completing my accounting degree so I was working and studying as well,” says Liebmann.
Liebmann bought his own apartment at 20, after a year of nomadic life across the world, traveling and doing odd jobs from construction to telesales consulting. Traveling is something he learnt from a young age, as a child Liebmann moved almost ten times with his divorced single mother and older brother.
“I started thinking about how I could do my own large developments of [loft culture] and started looking for old factory spaces that would have the right type of aesthetic to do that and that’s when I found my first buildings in Maboneng.”
“I traveled all around the world after school and that exposed me to a lot to urban culture,” he says.
And since his return to Johannesburg—the city of his birth—he wants to inject new life into the city; artists, business and residents are following him.
While on his travels, Liebmann went from being a construction worker to a telesales person, skills he would later use in his chosen career.
You can tell from the moment you meet Liebmann that he’s driven. He’s sharp and has an air of confidence that could be interpreted as arrogance when he speaks about his work. He’s got that ‘I know what I want and I know how I’m going to get it’ tone as he tucks his brown hair beneath his ears throughout the interview.
Earlier this year, Liebmann was invited to the World Economic Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
“I was selected as a global shaper along with 30 other young people from Africa. I learnt about the common objectives of African countries to collaborate with one another in an attempt for Africa to become the next frontier,” says Liebmann.
While we sit at a corner coffee shop, a number of people greet him as they pass by. Liebmann and his vision are growing in stature in this area of decaying factories and empty buildings, which is a living manifestation of the saying “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.
Not only has it managed to attract people and money back into the city but it has also put his family back together.
His mother owns a coffee shop, his father owns a gallery and his step-brother works here too.
It’s a risky investment.
One minute one area could be the trendy spot where the masses flock and in a number of years may degenerate and experience flight.
His architect, Enrico Daffonchio says property goes in cycles in every city of the globe.
“There is a spectrum of different perspective [on its potential], however the spectrum of opinion from the cynics is reducing… Cities get renewed throughout history, it’s not a new thing. There are tax incentives to refurbish those areas. [So] there’s tax incentives and governments copy each other ,” says Daffonchio.
How did Liebmann get people to Maboneng and does he think they will stay?
“I think initially the challenge was changing people’s perceptions of the city. Yes, it’s a continuing struggle but it’s far easier as we grow block by block… I think Johannesburg is at the beginning of its curve of regeneration. There’s a long way to go [but] it’s certainly showing promise… You’ve got to build spaces that attract people back…”
Property economist and University of Capet Town lecturer, François Viruly says it’s not the government’s duty to upkeep the city.
“The role of government is primarily to ensure that an environment is created that encourages private sector investment in the CBD&#8230; I don’t think that there is anything wrong with the private sector owning buildings in the CBD. Urban decay is a problem that local governments have faced across the world. In South Africa, the decentralization of commercial space has invariably left CBDs with high vacancy rates.”
These are vacancy rates which Liebmann is grabbing with both hands—a dream he is creating one building at a time.

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