Reggie Makhetha

Reggie Makhetha - born & bred in Soweto, owner of The Roots Restaurant & Gallery. Entrepreneurs run deep in his blood, the family have owned and run hardware stores to shopping centers and Reggie was involved since he was 10. 

At first he would sell sweets and firecrackers from outside the stores, now he’s got his own spot, hear him out…

Reggie recons that if anyone wants to get into hospitality, you gotta have the passion, it’s no 9-5 job, the hours are long and you gotta enjoy people cause you're gonna deal with a lot of personalities.  As far as the gallery is concerned, you must have an eye for good art, more on that…

The restaurant side sells township food - tripe, chicken feet, smileys and also your basic burgers and ribs. The clientele during the week is mainly tourists, but on weekends its guys from the suburbs who miss the township life, hence the name – Roots. As we do on USOYA, here’s the man with his view on African politix...

Thanks Reggie, the food was great and the art selection – dope, only thing missing was the firecrackers ;) Check out the facebook group or call 011 912 0000 if you wanna book.

Thandi Davids

Thandi grew up in a township on the outskirts of Joburg, down the line she moved to a Northen suburbs school called Woodmead, a very alternative and art focused school. After matric she started a law degree, but only because her mother was an advocate and insisted she do so. She soon dropped out and settled on a Bachelor of Arts or as Thandi puts is, “bugger all”. Upon completion she tried to get a job in the advertising world as a copywriter, “but in those days they didn’t hire black copywriters, so I ended up in PR”. Fast forward to today and she owns and runs her own experiential marketing agency called The Collective. So what is The Collective and this “experiential” marketing is all about?

Thandi is another knowledge bank that I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing, I’m sure she’s an assassin at games like trivial pursuit and 30 seconds, here she is on African economics…

I must mention that trying to write down anything Thandi said in the interview is only going to be watered down with my intellect, so I’m sticking to video, here she is on a United States of Africa…

Thank you Thandi J

Walter Ndou

Walter is founder of the clothing label called Ek Se, a multiracial South African brand that is tailored in his own factory. Walter is originally from Venda in Limpopo but has moved around considerably. After matric he studied business in fashion design at the Tshwane university of Technology, he got his diploma and started from scratch. A break came his way when the SAB appealed to his funding application to start his business. Today he owns a factory, employs five people, has his own label and also designs a private range for the group - Rhythmic Elements. Here’s how it started…

His advice to upcoming fashion designers is to go for main market casual clothing, look at fashion as a business and not an art, and if anyone is trying to start up their own business, here’s more advice…

Good one, if you know what your doing but don’t have money to start your business, use the internet to search for government grants, corporate sponsorships or other available funding out there, you’re the man Walter.

Woolworths, YDE, Big Blue and Y Shop are all stores that are busy stocking Ek Se, and if you want a good price on your own custom made shirts, get in touch with the man at walter-ndou@webmail.co.za

Africa Rocks because…