TOWARDS BANKABLE CRAFT: The road we've travelled Presentation to the Gijima KZN LED Post-graduate Programme Africa!Ignite 21 July 2010

TOWARDS BANKABLE
               CRAFT:
        The road we’ve travelled

Presentation to the Gijima KZN LED Post-graduate Programme
                   Africa!Ignite 21 July 2010

OUR PRESENTATION
•   About Africa!Ignite
•   History
•   Craft development and tapestries
•   Partnerships
•   Branding craft
•   Exports and retail
•   Tourist destinations
•   Conclusions/Questions

ABOUT AFRICA!IGNITE
Africa!Ignite is a not-for-
profit development agency.
We use our business mind
to become self-sustainable
and create enterprise
development opportunities
for others, our development
heart to ignite people’s
potential, and our creative
spirit to come up with
innovative services and
products that break new
ground and inspire.

OUR PURPOSE
                    `

Africa!Ignite creates
partnerships with rural
and marginalised
communities, to facilitate
their fair participation in
the economy and society,
and to make their voices
heard.
We do this by providing
unique enterprise
development,
communication, and
distribution services.

OUR HISTORY
                `

•Born out of MiET Africa, an education
development NGO.
•120 education centres across KZN
established by MiET Africa, EKN and KZN
DoE.
•Centres established to services schools
and communities.
•Support for craft enterprise development
a prioritised need.
•MiET provided capacity-building, but no
market access.
•Africa!Ignite undertook to market craft
and promote sales.

Map of Education Centres

AFRICA!IGNITE’S RURAL FOOTPRINT
EDUCATION CENTRES
   –Access to 120 education centres through a
   partnership with the KZN DoE.
RAIN DISTRIBUTION
   –140 rural independent contractors and 90
   distribution points to distribute to 6 400
   schools and other rural destinations. R15M to
   contractors between ‘05 to ‘09.
ITHUBALETHU RURAL NEWSPAPER
   –Gives a voice to rural communities across
   KZN and improves their access to information
   and opportunities, their education and quality
   of life.
   –60 000 copies per month distributed to
   destinations across KZN districts.
YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
   - Capacity building of youths across province
   (water and sanitation outreach workers,
   research field workers, newspaper
   correspondents, youth champions etc)

CRAFT ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT

• Africa!Ignite works with over 600 crafters, grouped around 15 craft hubs
  across rural KwaZulu-Natal.
• Craft is crucial in supplementing household incomes.
• In the first half of 2010, Africa!Ignite paid close to R1 million to crafters for
  craft orders.

Tapestries telling stories
•     An Africa!Ignite speciality: Working
  with communities to document and
  celebrate their stories through ‘Story
  Tapestries’.
• In 2007 and 2008, we worked with a
  thousand people from 20 communities
  across KZN and the North West to
  capture their positive stories of change.

•
Local artists created brightly
beaded tapestries.
Exhibited at:
- The National Cultural
History Museum in Pretoria in
2007 (huge public interest and
about R2 million worth of
media coverage).
- Opening KZN’Parliament
- Tatham Gallery
- King Shaka International
Airport.

South Durban and Ilembe
            Tapestries
• Five tapestries
  created by artists
  from South Durban
  to celebrate the
  stories of diverse
  communities.
• Two tapestries
  created by Ilembe
  crafters to celebrate
  their district’s
  history and vision
  for the future.

Why craft?
• Craft production in South Africa is a
  significant economic sector.
  – Generated R 2 billion annually and
    employed over 1.2 million people in 2007.
  – In KZN, 40 000 people engaged in craft
    activity in 2007.

  – Source: DED&T and SEDA Report 2007

Why craft?
• Entry point to the economy for thousands of
  marginalized people, mostly women
• Cost of entry low – limited infrastructure needed
• Draws on skills and craft techniques learnt from
  mothers and grandmothers.
• Can be done together with other daily activities
  (agriculture, child-care, food-provision etc.).
• Builds broad life-skills that can be used in other
  economic sectors
• Income stimulates other economic activity
• Craft businesses are often survivalist but very
  resilient
• Develops, protects indigenous knowledge systems

CREATING PARTNERSHIPS
    TO OVERCOME
     CHALLENGES

Challenges of rural craft development
• Long distances and broken terrain of rural
  KZN
• Isolation
• As a result, it is expensive to provide
  support to rural craft groups.
• Lack of resources
• Distance to markets
• Limited understanding of market needs
• Crafters need to fit craft work into daily
  activities.

Establishing partnerships
• Reasons for partnerships
  – To help us overcome challenges
  – Realised that craft groups were not
    operating as businesses.
  – Without partnerships, Africa!Ignite could
    not provide enough support.
  – The experience and skills of partners
    complement our own and provide extra
    support to craft SMMEs who want to
    grow their businesses.

Partnerships for growth
• UKZN-led partnership
  –   Ford Foundation
  –   Inina Craft Agency
  –   DED&T
  –   UKZN Foundation
  –   Environdev and PBIS
• Objectives
  – Use Inina as a role model
  – Roll out lessons learnt and support to
    craft groups around 12 education centres
    across KZN

MTN Foundation
• Support for crafters around three education
  centres in the KwaHlabisa Municipality
• Different approach – working closely with
  municipality
• Africa!Ignite’s strengths complement those of
  KwaHlabisa municipality:
  – Municipality established a business support centre
  – A!I assists with product development, marketing
    and sales.
• Learning: Importance of working with
  municipalities.

Branding Rural Craft
• In branding IGNITE A!I wanted to create a
  differentiated product offering. Key
  components would be design in
  collaboration with crafters

• Utilise the skills of identified crafters
  across the province in 12 hubs across the
  province

• Created product lines which we market
  as the IGNITE brand

• Range includes Corporate gifting and
  Lifestyle products

• Working with local and international
  designers to create exportable ranges

Branded Rural Craft
• Having a tangible brand and range of
  products also allowed Africa!Ignite to
  target organisations looking for
  particular products with design and
  quality in volume.
• There are challenges to branding in
  the craft sector. As soon as you have
  made it, others can copy. Adding
  elements, blending technology and
  continuous design ensure continued
  differentiation.
• Telling the story of the crafters and
  acknowledging the input of their skill
  and the impact of their being able to
  work
• Marketing and sales were driven
  intentionally to companies locally and
  internationally to promote the range,
  organisation, crafters and to ensure
  sales grew.

Open air Craft Market at King
 Shaka International Airport

King Shaka International’s
                 `
                           unique
      Cultural Launch Pad
              A retail craft area that highlights the
              province through its products and sales
              staff.

              A visually arresting mix of visuals,
              personalities and products

              An outdoor, green, airy, craft market.

              Indigenous, knowledgeable crafters and
              local youth as sales assistants

              Recycled and removable elements in a
              pop-up shop concept

Benefits for King Shaka Intl. Airport
‘A CRAFT’ DESTINATION!
• A hub for socially responsible
  business development
• A collaboration of business
  and community
• A unique feature for the new
  international airport
• Giving visitors a richer retail
  and cultural experience
• Ongoing income for the retail
  business of ACSA

CRAFT AT KING
SHAKA
INTERNATIONAL
AIRPORT
ACSA and Dube Tradeport
have jointly given
Africa!Ignite an opportunity
to create a retail space at
the new King Shaka
International Airport, to
showcase and sell rural
craft from across KZN.

EXPORT PARTNERSHIPS: THE RAINBOW
                 COLLECTION
Africa!Ignite partnered with a     Rainbow Collection created a
social entrepreneur in the         campaign with a Dutch retailer
Netherlands called the Rainbow     putting craft onto their shelves for
Collection to produce and export   sale but also taking a long term view
100 000 World Cup Supporters       to sending profits back to the
Bracelet for the Dutch team        producer groups.
Oranje.

Tourist destinations around craft
             centres
Proposal to the NDA.
PURPOSE:
• Help eradicate poverty across
  KwaZulu-Natal by integrating craft,
  tourism development and food
  gardening around three existing craft
  hubs in deep-rural areas of KwaZulu-
  Natal.
• Showcase and share the experiences
  and successes across KZN through
  the iThubalethu rural newspaper.

PURPOSE (longer term)

• Develop a Zulu cultural tourist route
  across rural areas of KwaZulu-Natal .
• Ignite tourist enterprise across the
  province by continuing to showcase
  and share experiences.

OBJECTIVES
1. Help eradicate poverty by getting money
   into rural households
2. Integrate tourism, craft enterprise
   development, sustainable food gardening
   and rural newspaper publishing
3. Do extensive training and capacity-
   building of rural stakeholder groups
4. Promote rural tourism across KwaZulu-
   Natal and build interest and pride in the
   province’s local Zulu culture, craft
   traditions, history and environments

WHERE
• KwaZulu-Natal: Umkhanyakude,
  Umzinyathi and Ugu District
  Municipalities
• Three pilot sites:
 – Manguzi (Umkhanyakude) near Kosi Bay and
   the Mozambique border
 – Turton outside Port Shepstone near the N2
   (Ugu)
 – St Augustine’s historical school (Umzinyathi
   District), in the Battlefields area

MANGUZI – YOUTH CAREER CENTRE

MANGUZI - CRAFTERS

MANGUZI – KOSI BAY

MANGUZI – MARULA FESTIVAL

ST AUGUSTINES – A SITE MAP

TURTON – COMMUNITY MEMBERS

EXPECTED RESULTS
Improvements to the lives of rural participants
• Create employment, particularly for youths and for
  women
• Develop small enterprises
• Promote skills development, particularly of
  currently unemployed women and youth
• Stimulate tourism development
• Promote local art, culture, history and craft
• Promote inter-generational transfer of skills and
  get youths interested in their local history, culture
  and craft traditions

EXPECTED RESULTS
Skills development
• Craft production and marketing
• Small business development
• Financial management
• Hospitality (cooking, catering, waitering, customer
  relations)
• Communications, marketing and sales
• Research (of local history, environment, stories)
• Journalism

THE ROAD WE’VE TRAVELLED -
      CONCLUSIONS
• Tough road with steep learning curves.
• The cost of rural craft enterprise
  development is huge.
• The following are vital:
• Access to a rural footprint and hubs
• Partnerships – including
  municipalities.
• MARKETING AND SALES marketing
  and sales are the key.
QUESTIONS/COMMENTS?

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

• Questions, comments?