Golden, a classic microentrepreneur from Khayelitsha ("new beginning") Township (population 1.2 million) outside Cape Town, takes aluminum cans among other things and transforms them into decorative flowers. His work is nothing short of amazing and it has enabled him to bring a flat screen TV into his tin walled 3 room home that he, his wife, and their 6 children share. He sells each flower for between 15 and 85 rand depending on size and complexity. He can make 25 flowers a day, sales fluctuate widely. I asked him do you have anyone working with you? do you take any loans? there was a 5,000 rand check on the wall from a micro-finance competition he won. No, he has no help other than occassionally from reluctant children, and no he does not have loans, as he does not like debt. He makes enough to scrap by comfortably and inspires school children throughout the township to take a creative approach to trash. Vison. He had none. In a sea of poverty he had created a means to give his family a slight lever, yet he had no desire to try to take it to the next stage, to actually pull him and his family out of poverty. Margaret had visions of decorating weddings in the U.S. with the flowers, i could see retail stores throughout the country. But that will not likely ever happen. He is the epitome of what microfinance is funding. Fruit stands, 5 room bed and breakfasts - small efforts that are making people's lives better, but where are the entrepreneurs creating growth? Where is the infrastructure to take micro-finance to the next level? To create businesses that will change their world and ultimately the world.
The mall on the other hand, the Waterfront, has a brand new "iStore" aka Apple Store. It also has Guess, Gucci, Tumi, and a host of other international brands. Little more than the pharmacy could be attributed to a South African business. I asked one of the gentlemen in the Apple Store who was kindly enabling me to use an external hard drive to install programs on my Mac AirBook - what is driving the economy here, what beyond tourism is creating wealth? He had no answer. The secondary answer in Cape Town is of course wine, but he like so many others, can only think of tourism. Yet there is so much more from retail to energy. It is happening on a micro level, it is happenig haphazerdly, it is happening and most of the country doesn't have a clue. There isn't a structure to small and medium size business or a middle class yet. There is a complex dichotomous society deriven from the Aperthid that is still struggling to leave its racial roots behind.
There is a huge opportunity here. One which is slowly taking shape. It will be different, the solutions cannot be carbon copies of other societies, culture and technology are demanding creative solutions. South Africa will likely be the center of Africa's economy for years to come, so we had all better not only understand it but strive to be part of it. Because there will be those few entrepreneurial spirits who emerge, giving Golden and other micro-entrepreneurs a vehicle through which their creativity can mold the future of Africa, gaining a toe hold within a sea of predominantly international conglomerates. Those types of spirits, leaders are rare and no matter how instinctive without education behind them, they are as likely to wind up governing a rebellion or surrendering to AIDS as launching the Google of Africa.
Think big, act locally. Margaret and I will focus on only a sliver of what it will take when we reach Zambia tomorrow, but we hope one day, that sliver will spread like wildfire through the Bush.
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