Each Monday, staff of Supply Ka Pace, a South African township-focused logistics firm, slip a observe into parcels that reads “New Week, We Strive Once more”. The enterprise posts the identical line on its social media. Founder Godiragetse Mogajane says the phrase, which they’ve used for the reason that early days of delivering meals on bicycles, “comes from an understanding that persons are attempting on the market, particularly in townships”.
Townships – residential areas established underneath apartheid for non-white South Africans – nonetheless bear the structural and financial scars of segregation. The 1950 Group Areas Act gave the state the authority to allocate land to particular racial teams. In observe, this meant forcibly relocating black residents to the outskirts of cities, into areas like Soweto (Johannesburg), Khayelitsha (Cape City) and Umlazi (Durban). Beneath apartheid, townships suffered from continual overcrowding and poor infrastructure.
Whereas townships have seen notable enhancements for the reason that finish of apartheid, from higher housing to the emergence of contemporary procuring malls, they continue to be economically marginalised in lots of respects. Mogajane recognised this hole in companies as a enterprise alternative. In 2021, he launched Supply Ka Pace.
“Lots of people try to get their lives in a greater state, however they’re not being recognised,” he notes. He sees this wrestle all over the place – from mother and father preventing to maintain meals on the desk, to college students striving to cross exams – usually with out anybody acknowledging that they’re doing their greatest.
“We actually consider that as a enterprise, if we will are available in and simply provide you with that oomph on a Monday to say, ‘Hey, it’s a brand new week, no matter what occurred final week’ … As a result of should you cease attempting, that’s when it ends.”
He’s additionally looking for to internalise this within the firm’s personal operations. “No matter occurred with yesterday’s deliveries … it’s prior to now. We now have a possibility to attempt once more and do higher.”
This text is an tailored excerpt from our newest e book How we made it in Africa II. To be taught extra about how Godiragetse Mogajane capitalised on a possibility in South Africa’s townships, buy the e book from the official web site or from Amazon.
