From Crisis to Collective Power: How South Africans Are Building Jobs Without Western Funding
From Crisis to Collective Power: How South Africans Are Building Jobs Without Western Funding
When COVID-19 shut down South Africa’s economy in 2020, Sibusiso Gumede saw a hard truth up close:
“Relying on one stream of income becomes very, very, dangerous as a business.”
Entire industries collapsed overnight, especially logistics and automotive. For Gumede, the crisis became the seed of a new idea — and a new economy.
That idea became Wear Your Brand, a small, non-funded network that helps unemployed and under-resourced South Africans start and grow businesses by organizing themselves rather than waiting for grants.
Instead of chasing funding, Wear Your Brand focused on identity, branding, and networks.
“Marketing and branding was also the key point of us selling our own businesses… they must start by understanding the term of wearing your brand,” he told Sputnik Africa.
The organization educates small-scale businesses on corporate identity while connecting them to private-sector opportunities.
The impact is tangible. One women-led group selling cow head meat — “Intlabi yabantu beSifazane” — grew from four women to 54, now employing youth in their community.
“They got a cow head business that we have been able to assist them to be sustainable… now they started employing the youth from where they come from.”
Wear Your Brand focuses on townships, rural areas, women, youth, and people living with disabilities, guided by data-driven research partnerships like the Moses Kotane Institute. The model is simple but powerful: collaboration over competition.
Scaling happens through a group economy, not foreign aid.
“They can just contribute R200 from their own businesses to create a fund… it’s all about the mentality in terms of us working together and understanding the bigger vision.”
For Gumede, the solution to Africa’s unemployment crisis is clear:
“Small businesses are the key for solution in terms of unemployment.”
When organized, connected, and trusted, they don’t just survive — they build families, communities, and cross-border economic ties.
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