Young entrepreneurs demonstrate how to develop and embrace local brands

Wesley Diphoko

SINCE 1998, South Africans have been called upon to support local products. Proudly South African was established in 2001, born out of the 1998 Presidential Job Summit which was convened by the late former President Nelson Mandela to promote the Buy Local campaign.

The challenge, however, was that when it came to some products, there was almost nothing locally made which was available to buy.

Enter South African young entrepreneurs who are making it possible to purchase South African sneakers, luxury leather bags, and fashion wear which celebrate South African culture.

These young South African entrepreneurs include Inga Gubeka, Theo Baloyi and Laduma Ngxokolo, among others. When Inga Gubeka tweeted: “I’m just a boy from the village of Engqeleni (Eastern Cape) with a dream that some day my brand will be recognised internationally as one of the best luxury leather goods brands to come out of Africa. Watch this space... And this is where I started in 2018”, the response was remarkable as he ended up selling the entire range of his luxury leather bags.

Finally, South Africans had an alternative to French and Italian luxury leather bags. On the Inga Atelier product website, Gubeka is described as a boy who grew up in an underprivileged and marginalised village in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, where people live below the poverty line and are not exposed to fi ne things. It goes on to describe him as someone who grew up making wire cars and little clay cows and houses.

His background story is similar to so many other young South Africans, and yet he rose above those circumstances to create a product worthy of national recognition. He is part of an uno cial club of young South Africans who are developing products that South Africans who now have options other than buying European and American products with little relevance to them.

Another of this group of youthful local entrepreneurs is Theo Baloyi. He is the young man behind the Bathu label which has been named by Brand Africa as one of 2021’s most admired African brands.

According to Theo, one of his motivations is that during his travels he noticed that something was missing – an African sneaker brand, portraying an authentic African story. As they say, the rest is history and, today, South Africans can finally feel free to heed the Proudly South African call when it comes to their sneaker range.

Another award-winning designer, entrepreneur, and creative artist who has elevated homegrown South African fashion to another level, Laduma Ngxokolo is the founder of the MaXhosa brand.

Upon starting, Laduma had a desire to explore knitwear design solutions that would be suitable for amakrwala (Xhosa initiates). His initial vision was to create a modern Xhosa-inspired knitwear collection that would be suitable for this market. As a person who has undergone the process, Laduma felt that he had to develop premium knitwear that celebrates traditional Xhosa aesthetics. His designs capture the hearts of South Africans with their strong cultural links to his heritage.

The MaXhosa brand is now considered as one of the locally developed fashion brands that qualifies as a luxury in the sea of international brands. Through the MaXhosa brand, South Africans can now wear a Proudly South African brand with confi dence. Inga Gubeka, Theo Baloyi, and Laduma Ngxokolo are shining stars among young entrepreneurs who made it possible for South Africans to truly embrace the idea of buying local products. What they have achieved is critical for the South African economy and should receive the necessary recognition. The design and quality of products developed by these young entrepreneurs are responsible for their success.

South Africa struggles to encourage locals to buy local products as they compete with products from other parts of the world which are perceived as seemingly better. What these young entrepreneurs have accomplished should serve as a case study in developing local products that can be embraced by society. This is important as it is one thing to develop a local product, it is another to encourage people to embrace them in favour of other products competing for attention. South Africa needs to develop more local products if it is to stimulate the local economy.

Inga Gubeka, Theo Baloyi, and Laduma Ngxokolo are blazing trails in showing the nation how it can be done.