Next Gucci in South Africa?

Will the next Gucci come from South Africa? Not a doubt, according to Mluleki, maker of sandals, bags and belts from Crossroads in Cape Town (below right). And he is going to extraordinary lengths to achieve that goal. After completing our micro-MBA course in February, he realized he was getting nowhere selling his products from his container in a quiet street in the township of Crossroads. No traffic, no sales.


But Mluleki does know his struggle history, and was aware that two youngsters, Mabhuti Fatman and Goodman Mali, had been shot and killed by security police in October 1985 next to his container. The Human Rights Media Centre got involved, a book was written (see this link for more information), and, recently, a graphical artist and a wood sculptor commissioned to design a simple memorial to the slain men. The container was repainted with a detailed description in Xhosa of the events, a sculpture erected and a gravestone carved into the trees where they were slain.



Now that the site is finished, tour operators are being approached to make this a stop on their tour of the townships. The first group of Norwegians were very impressed by this simple but very elegant memorial site!

Micro - MBA Follow Up Session

One and a half months ago, the Entrepreneurship Centre conducted its first Micro- MBA workshop. The week long program aided 21 develop and grow their businesses by providing valuable business training. Unfortunately, in any workshop there is always a gap between acquiring knowledge and putting it to actual use. To bridge this gap, the Entrepreneurship Centre ran the first of three Micro - MBA follow up sessions on April 7th. The purpose of theses follow up sessions is to ensure that the entrepreneurs’ businesses continue to grow, that they use the skills learned from the original workshop, and also build upon them.

The session began with many familiar face, smiles, and pats on the back as participants chatted about what has been happening since the last workshop. After exchanging pleasantries, the entrepreneurs gave speeches, detailing the obstacles and successes they have experienced in their business since the Micro – MBA. Various other exercises were conducted throughout the session including group brainstorming on why some small businesses fail and why others succeed. We also had a brief ceremony in which participants were given their Micro – MBA certificates.

To finish off the half day session, the group was given assignments for the month ahead to ensure that their skills developed in the Micro – MBA would be put to good use. Overall the session went quite well, and the participants had quite a lot to say. They even went so far as to write to us about how the course has affected them.


I am really happy that I took the opportunity to study about business at Tsiba in the Micro - MBA.

I gained knowledge on a lot of things like how to start a business, how to keep the customers you already have, how to keep the business booming, how to get the business well known among the people, and how to calculate the cost of sales and selling prices.

I also got friends that I can contact when I need assistance and advice.

-Nongqele Kalashe

What I have achieved from the Micro MBA course is how to price and add my markup, how to keep my books in order and balancing, how to create a marketing plan and how improve my purchasing strategy.

After the course I developed a marketing plan and orders have started to come in. I am busy processing many orders these days. Thanks to the Micro MBA course I was able to add value to my business.

-Evelyn Mbenyane




Through my encounter with TSiBA I have found the right attitude in dealing with my customers by reading in minute detail possibilities for potential customers. I learned how to tell apart the buyers from the window-shoppers. I found business should not be isolated within the notion of merely closing a sale. Instead it is important to realize an opportunity to build sustainable relationships with each customer.

-Mluleki Sinuku

Day 3 of MIT Start-up Workshop

After yesterday's action-packed day, I was prepared for a relaxing Friday. Jessica Jackley Flannery shattered my hopes immediately and completely. She told another improbable story: how a few friends, making a few loans of a couple of dollars each, helping a few farmers in Uganda, grew within the space of a few years to kiva.org, an international community of 470,000 lenders providing US$ 65,000,000 in loans to 95,000 entrepreneurs. The recovery rate of these loans is an amazing 98% with interest rates about 10% below the norm for most micro-finance programs. Go to www.kiva.org to learn more and become a lender yourself.

What strikes me again and again listening to stories of Jessica and Alicia yesterday (pictured below), is how improbable they sound and how they rely more on character, grit and determination than on anything we can teach in an Entrepreneurship class.

What is especially heartening is that many of these very modern success stories are being told by women. In fact, a decade or so ago, a conference like this would have attracted very few women. Today, almost half of the participants were female. In fact, if you leave out the age groups north of 40, I would wager that women were in the majority. In entrepreneurship, the glass ceiling has not only shattered, it has disappeared completely!


And then there was William Kamkwamba from Malawi. His story is so unbelievable, all I'm going to provide you with is a link to YouTube: Moving Windmills. Who said there was no entrepreneurial spirit in Africa?


And so ends a magnificent three day event. There was a lot of networking going on. I'm especially pleased that South African organisations pitched up in great numbers. Richard Branson School of Entrepreneurship, Raizcorp, SEDA, DTI, Wits Business School, the City of Cape Town, the Bandwidth Barn, TSiBA of course, and just about anyone who is anyone in SA entrepreneurship was there.

Day 2 of MIT Start-up Workshop

Wow! What a day! Almost every event was superlative.

A session on Entrepreneurship Support Structures was highly relevant to our work at the Entrepreneurship Centre. It started with a very provocative question and one I continually grapple with at TSiBA: how on earth can a non-profit organization (university, incubator, government agency) teach entrepreneurs to make a profit? Can a non-profit truly produce the aggressive tigers that thrive in the market place or do they produce tame lions that die once they are let out into the wild? A troubling question with no easy answer...

Another highlight was Mansoor Mohamed (pictured above), Executive Director for Economic, Social Development and Tourism of the City of Cape Town, whom Leigh and I had just met in his office last week. He gave a compelling overview of the steps that the City is taking to foster entrepreneurship and innovation. One of his pet projects is an innovation hub, an area of about 10 hectares; where organisations in the entrepreneurship space will be housed together to create synergies and economic opportunities beyond their individual potential. One of these is a well-known provider of a tertiary degree in Entrepreneurial Leadership. :-) A serial entrepreneur himself, it is heartening to see a dynamic business person like Mansoor in such an influential position within city management.

And just when we thought it couldn't get much better, Alicia Polak, an ex-investment banker who left Merrill Lynch well before their demise, told her story of starting Khaya Cookies, a very profitable venture targeting unemployable women from Khayelitsha to produce high-quality cookies both for local consumption and for export to the United States.

The icing of the cake goes to Cebisa, who entered the Elevator Pitch Competition. He did really well, and tomorrow we will learn whether he can go through to the finals. "I have never been so nervous in all my life", a visibly relieved Cebisa confided to me after the event.

And just as we were completely exhausted, the Managing Director of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center, Kenneth P. Morse, pulled off an entrepreneurial show of epic dimensions. Whatever I try to say about his performance, you wouldn’t believe it. So I won’t even go there…

Day 1 of MIT Start-up Workshop

Cebisa and I are attending a three-day workshop on Business Start-ups (http://www.mitgsw.org/) organized by MIT and the WITS Business School. We are being sponsored by the McCoombs School of Business of the University of Texas (thanks David!). The day started of with a riveting keynote address by Euvin Naidoo of WITS. Later, there was an excellent panel discussion by university students that started their own businesses while they were still studying, something we have often discussed at TSiBA. Tomorrow has several highlights, but I will especially be following Cebisa in the Elevator Pitch Competition! Between sessions, there is a lot of networking going on and Cebisa certainly works the crowd.

L'Oreal likes our Micro-MBA students

There is nothing better than walking on the streets after you had a fresh haircut. Yesterday was one of those fresh-hair days. Bart and I went to Tersia, our new hairdresser. Tersia worked over ten years in the Sheraton Hotel (it is the Westin Grand now), but now she works from home in Thornton, only 5 minutes from our campus.

In February, she participated in our very first Micro-MBA course. What did she get from it? "I used to hope for the best each day," she said, "but now I am actually able to run my business effectively and can predict my numbers." Tersia learned about marketing and marketing research, resulting in a 40% boost in clients. She specialises in upscale service (a nice head massage and very smart advice), and is always ready to give you a new look.

We were not the only ones impressed by Tersia's skills. Recently she struck a deal with L'Oreal, the French cosmetics giant (they employ 63 000 people) as advertised by the beautiful Penelope Cruz.

If you think you fancy a great new haircut, you can reach Tersia at the following numbers: (021) 532-3366 and 073 3590234.

Letterpress at Design Indaba

I have always loved the work of Anton and Gitanjali at The Letterpress Company. But their newest creation has surpassed my wildest dreams. A stunning series of cards depicting indigenous South African trees. These were a highlight of this year's Design Indaba.


Here is what Gitanjali had to say: Design Indaba Expo showcases the cream of SA design in various disciplines. One of our popular products, which received lots of attention at the Expo, was a boxed set of large folded cards featuring indigenous trees of southern Africa. Created using earth-friendly and tree-free papers and hand-operated printing equipment, our artisan stationery will soon be exported as there was interest from Japan, France and the UK. Visit our website for more details - www.theletterpresscompany.co.za.