Newspaper Page Text
October 3, 1996
22
New South Africa more than
talk for black entrepreneurs
By Donna Bryson
ASSOCIATED PRESS Writer
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
Customers flock to Niki's Oa
sis, a downtown bar and eatery
that attracts the up-and-coming
black elite of new politicians,
artists and journalists.
Owner Niki Sondlo and other
black entrepreneurs are not yet
the South African norm, but they
still represent an encouraging
sign of progress.
The end of apartheid two years
ago dissolved white minority rule
but not white economic domi
nance. Since then, however, black
South Africans have made strides
in gaining economic power, par
ticularly in forming consortialed
by biggames to buy chunks of
some ofthe country’slargest com
panies.
In the months after President
Nelson Mandela’s African Na
tional Congress came to powerin
1994, blacks controlled only a
handful of companies that ac
counted for less than half of 1
percent oftotal equity of the more
than 600-member Johannesburg
Stock Exchange.
Now that stake has increased
to 10 percent, and black-owned
groups have cut major dealssuch
as therecent purchase of at least
$333 million in shares of a major
subsidiary of the giant Anglo
American Corp.
Major players include Dr.
Nthato Motlana, Mandela’s phy
sician who heads New Africa In
vestments with holdings in bank
ing, insurance and media com
panies valued at $262 million on
the stock exchange.
But so far, changing owner
ship hasn’t created jobs, and econ
omists say it is new, small busi
nesses—like Niki’s Oasis—that
can get the impoverished black
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The end of apartheid two years ago
dissolved white minority rule but not white
economic dominance. Since then, how
ever, black South Africans have made
strides in gaining economic power, partic
ularly in forming consortia led by big
names to buy chunks of some of the
country’s largest companies.
majority working to create a mid
dle class.
Sondlo quit her job with an
employment agency and put up
her apartment and all her sav
ings as collateral for a $44,500
loan to open Niki’s Oasis a year
ago.
Since then, she’s added lunch
service, hired extra staff to help
her eight full-time employees on
the weekends and has grown
used to working 12-hour days,
seven days a week.
With its mauve walls and cool
jazz, the renovated store front
does feel like an oasis in the
crowded downtown streets. But
Sondlo remembers how hard it
was during the African winter to
lure people from their homes.
“Sometimes when you’re expe
riencing problems, you think,
‘How did I get myself into this?’
But you do feel good when you
know you’re working for your
self,” she said.
The challenge for any new busi
ness in South Africa, whether
black- or white-owned, is daunt
ing. The country’s high crimerate
isnews around the world, worry
ing potential foreign investors,
sending skilled, white South Af
ricans fleeing overseas and keep
ing restaurant patrons at home
at night.
Since February, the rand cur
rency has fallen 20 percent
against the U.S. dollar, battered
by concern about the crime rate
and other factors. Economic
growth has hovered at around 3
percentinrecentyears, halfwhat
the government says is needed
to create jobs. \
Some people, though, have
managed to take advantage of
the changes.
JafPen Landscapes, started
last year by Penwell Msimango
and Jaftha Nyama with just two
workers, now has a staff of 15
and envisions employing as many
as 50.
Msimango and Nyama bor
rowed $6,660 from a white devel
oper to buy lawnmowers, a truck
and other start-up equipment.
They do about $5,300 a month in
business as a direct result of gov
ernment policy they plant gar
dens around homes being built
with state subsidies, earning $33
per plot from the developer.
The government wants to build
1 million homes for poor blacks
by 1999, though there are signs
the goal is too ambitious.
But even if the housing plans
fall short, Msimango and Nyama
believe JafPen will expand with
the black middle class. They’re
planning to start a nursery to
grow their own trees and sod,
and say they’ll be first in line for
landscaping contracts when the
government builds parks and
schools in new subdivisions.
“As an entrepreneur, you see
opportunities and you use them,”
Nyama said.
Others say frustrating obsta
cles still exist for blacks.
Makhaola Mohanoe and his two
partners, Metsing Malebo and
Perpetua Makhuba, struggled for
ayear to find start-up funds for a
business.
Even their parents tried to dis
courage the three—all in their
mid-20s—from leaving secure
jobs in advertising. In the end,
they turned to a franchiser, who
helped them get a bank loan and
find rental space for their Lon
don Pie fast-food joint.
“It’s almost impossible to get
anything on your own. You still
need a white face to present your
case,” Mohanoe said.
The white-owned London Pie
Corp. has provided advertising
support and expertise, the part
ners acknowledge. The product
is one South Africans know and
love, and customers line up for
the crescents of flaky pastry filled
with steak-and-kidney or lamb
stew at their prime retail loca
tion near the entrance to a shop
ping mall.
“More people are trying to do
something positive with their
lives” since the first all-race elec
tionsin 1994, said Mohanoe. “You
have the confidence to approach
someone and present your case,
whereas three or four years ago
you wouldn’t even have bothered,
because you already knew what
the answer would be. Attitudes
are changing, and that’s a start.”
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MOTORS
ASALH convenes its 81st
national conference
The Association for the Study of
Afro-American Life and History
(ASALH), Inc., founded by Dr. Cart
er G. Woodson, the father of Black
History Month, will hold its 81st
annual meeting in Charleston, S.C.
Thisyeartheconvention willbeheld
in the newly-renovated Francis
Marion Hotel and the Lightsey Con
ference Center at the College of
Charleston in the heart of historic
downtown Charleston.
The purpose of the annual meet
ing is to bring together top scholars
in the field of African and African-
American history, Afro-Caribbean
history and studies on the African
Diaspora, to present their contem
porary, cutting-edge scholarship.
More than 60 sessions will be held
from Wednesday through Sunday,
October 2 -6, 1996.
This year’s convention promises
to be one of the best! Aside from the
stimulating sessions, ASALH is
sponsoring the 4th annual work
shop for history and social studies
teachers in an effort to support and
promote the objective to infuse the
MEAL DEALS!
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African-American presenceinschool
curricula. Forthe fifthyear, branch
workshops will be held to workwith
local, state and regional ASATH
chapters. The public is invitad to
attend the Association of Biack
Women Historians’ luncheon=on
Saturday, Octobersth, tohearSonth
Carolina congresswoman, theHon.
Maggie Glover Wallace. In=addi
tion, the National Park Servicgtand
Parks Canada systems will hst an
Underground Railroad Sumsit on
Wednesday, October 2nd.
ASALH was founded in 1915
to promote the study of African-
American history and, the fol
lowing year, the Journal of Ne
gro History, a highly respected
scholarly digest, was published.
It was followed in 1937 by the
Negro History Bulletin, a widely
circulated popular magazine.
Foradditional informationorpre
registration packet for the 81st an
nual conferencein Charleston,S.C.,
writeto: ASALH, 1407 14th St. NW,
Washington, D.C. 20005, call (202)
667-2822, or fax (202) 387-9802.
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