This Is What A ‘Bottom Up’ Revolution Looks Like
I’m writing this at my friend Geoff’s farmhouse in the foothills of the Drakensberg. My two daughters are walking outside, surrounded by ducks, cows and chickens. My son is resting inside, reading Sherlock Holmes.
Life is good, for now.
We have traversed a horseshoe-shaped route from Cape Town to Pretoria and Mbombela before hitting the mountains, heading back via the Garden Route. My team (read, child labour) and I are on the prowl for inspiring small businesses in SA’s hinterland. In between, we're checking out iconic destinations such as the Kruger National Park and visiting small towns off the beaten track.
It’s been harrowing and exciting. Late on Sunday night we got stuck in the mud in a torrential downpour after watching the epic Argentina France game at a nearby guest lodge. Last week, the clutch of my trusty Ford Ranger broke somewhere between Beaufort West and Kimberley. Somehow we made it to Johannesburg in one gear, with many, many awkward stops on the way. Meandering through KZN this week has been an exercise in dodging potholes. Now today, we're heading down through the beautiful Eastern Cape.
I have been reflecting upon the extremes of this country. On the one hand, there is extreme beauty and potential. On the other, extreme desperation and poverty.
With all our resources, there is no reason why South Africa shouldn’t succeed. There is precedent around the world for nations such as ours to rise above the mess.
This mess is currently defined by:
Lack of service-delivery - Eskom (obvz), home affairs, education.
Lack of opportunities - unemployment, access to capital, red tape, onerous SME compliancy, entrepreneur education.
Lack of leadership - corrupt politicians, corrupt business heads, sensationalist media, no cohesive plan to support.
A friend of mine recently remarked that he couldn’t think of a trajectory so consistently downwards that didn’t spark a revolution. A chilling warning indeed.
I saw signs of this downward slide during this trip. So many small businesses in once-prosperous towns were completely hamstrung due to loadshedding. Coffee shops. Antique stores. Clothing outlets. Food stalls.
We saw signs of these sparks last year with the KZN unrest. We will see increasingly more sparks until a conflagration emerges from these flinty towns,
So, what must be done?
What can I do in the face of this?
What can you do? What can we South African folks do as a collective? - at least, the intentionally self-aware folks amongst the South African populace.
What do we need in order to turn things around and avoid our beautiful land burning to the ground?
This much I know: We need brave leadership. We need strong communication. We need clear strategy.
Last year, alongside an inspiring group of ecosystem heads, Heavy Chef was invited to outline strategies to stimulate small business in South Africa. We spent a few hours presenting a visibly exhausted President Ramaphosa. Some of the ideas were exceptional. I left feeling excited.
Since then, nothing. Not an email, DM or carrier pigeon. Complete radio silence. I have contacted the other members of the audience and… also nothing.
My colleagues and I have come to the conclusion that this requires a ‘bottom-up revolution’. At least, when it comes to empowering the SME community. This means that the members of communities like Heavy Chef have to come together to provide a platform for entrepreneurial growth.
Right now, we have 1200 members of Heavy Chef’s paid platform and around 40,000 community members who have opted-in to receive our messaging.
Together with Heavy Chef Foundation, we’ve identified three primary problems that entrepreneurs need solving for. These are the three problems we’re obsessed with - in order of priority:
Content. - access to hyper-relevant, hyper-personalised bite-sized entrepreneurial learning content.
Community. - access to peers, mentors, investors, events, meetups, networking gatherings, incubators, accelerators and support.
Capital. - access to moolah, when we need it.
In Louis’ excellent Friday mailer reflecting upon the year that’s been, he outlined some of the milestones the Heavy Chef team have accomplished - namely:
R 1,111,332 donated to Heavy Chef research and programmes.
R 2,550,000 worth of annual platform membership donated to disconnected entrepreneurs.
882 disconnected entrepreneurs supported through the platform and programmes.
1,980 data points captured through research, analysed across 12 segments.
44% average increase in knowledge gained and 36% in peer support reported by entrepreneurs in Heavy Chef programmes.
2022 has been a monumental effort. The HC crew of Bronwyn, Charmain, Louis, Lukhanyo, Mo, Nicola, Randall, Siya, Yolandi, Zinhle, Zola and Zsuzsa have achieved the impossible, creating over 30 quality learning videos per week, every week for a year.
Working with our partners, PayFast, Xero, Capitalise, Whipping The Cat and xneelo, we've pulled together a community of 40,000 entrepreneurs, all working together to uplift our economy.
After the doldrums of COVID, Heavy Chef and our lifestyle partners Workshop17, Backsberg, Sir Fruit, Global Citizen, Creed Living, Justin Sandmann, Black Maverick and Goodleaf have ensured that events are packed with energy and excitement again.
This is just a start. Our team is growing. Our list of partners is growing. Our community is growing. Our regional reach is growing (Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya - we’re looking at ya!)
Heavy Chef is well on track to building the largest repository of entrepreneur learning bites in the world.
Most importantly, we’re on track to make entrepreneur learning accessible and equitable, to all.
Heavy Chef's aim is to inspire people to start new businesses and empower them to succeed. We want to hundreds of thousands of small enterprises tackling the problems that matter.
Businesses like Umgibe in Bolito, founded by the exceptional Ma Joye, winner of World Entrepreneur of the Year award for empowering small-scale farmers in Africa.
Businesses like YeboFresh in Matroosfontein, founded by the unstoppable Jessica Boonstra, bringing the power of e-commerce to dozens of townships across Southern Africa.
Businesses like Cloudy Deliveries in Langa, founded by the remarkable Colin Mkosi, employing dozens of bicycle delivery persons to service community neighbourhoods.
Now, that is bottom-up change.
Now, that is a revolution to be hopeful about.
I love this country. I love this continent.
It’s worth fighting for, in our own peaceful way.
Hey, did you know that there is a town called Chevy Chase in the Eastern Cape?
Well now you do.
As the sun rises rises slowly over South Africa, I bid thee farewell for 2022.
Until then, as always,
Peace -
