3 Show Notes

00:07 The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction movie and depicts a dystopian future in which humanity is unknowingly trapped inside the Matrix, a simulated reality that intelligent machines have created to distract humans while using their bodies as an energy source.

01:04 Msinga lies about 3 hours inland from Durban in the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa

01:11 Born White, Zulu Bred

01:15 Kasinomics & Kasinomic Revolution

04:00 Daily Maverick is a South African daily online publisher serving up a blend of news, investigations, expert political analysis, and opinion. Not usually associated with ignorant headlines.

04:09 Shoprite is the largest supermarket retailer in Africa, with over 150,000 employees operating in 3,326 stores across the continent. Read their timeline, watch an interview with 'Shoprite King' Whitey Basson or watch an interview with the author of the book 'The Rise and Rule of the Shoprite King'

04:15 Watch 'Good Business', a documentary about Pick ’n Pay and its founder, Raymond Ackerman. Imdb movie description: 'A man's fight to build an ethical company in an unethical country. The true story of Raymond Ackerman's commitment to grow Pick 'n Pay retail chain, birthed during South Africa's apartheid regime and coming of age in the countries freedom.' Quite a description.

04:46 The Story behind Time's cover in Inequality in South Africa.

04:58 Page 29, Figure 8.1, in the 2021 SA General Household Survey shows that slightly more than eight-tenths (83,6%) of South African households lived in formal dwellings in 2021, followed by 11,7% in informal dwellings, and 4,2% in traditional dwellings.

05:22 Khayelitsha means 'New Home' in isiXhosa (one of South Africa's 12 official languages - it added sign language in 2023) and lies about 30 km outside of Cape Town.

05:32 Read Factfulness - Ten Reasons we are wrong about the world and why things are better than you think. "Factfulness: The stress-reducing habit of only carrying opinions for which you have strong supporting facts."

08:39 A Stokvel is a type of credit union in which a group of people enter into an agreement to contribute a fixed amount of money to a common pool weekly, fortnightly or monthly. This financial system is not unique to South Africa, and exists worldwide. They are also known as Chama in Swahili-speaking East Africa, Tandas in South America, Kameti in Pakistan, Partnerhand in the West Indies, Cundinas in Mexico, Ayuuto in Somalia, Hui in China, Gam’eya in the Middle East, Kye in South Korea, Tanomoshiko in Japan and Pandeiros in Brazil – to name but a few examples.

08:53 ‘Dis kak!’ Afrikaans (one of South Africa's 12 official languages) for ‘That’s bull@#$%^! You are talking rubbish.’

09:13 StatsSA. 2021 General Household Survey - p.29 Figure 8.1 shows that slightly more than eight-tenths (83,6%) of South African households lived in formal dwellings in 2021, followed by 11,7% in informal dwellings, and 4,2% in traditional dwellings.

09:32 The Gift of the Givers Foundation is the largest disaster response non-governmental organisation of African origin on the African continent.

10:09 Had never heard of this before, am adding it to the reading list: Heineken in Africa

13:01 Spazas. Small convenience stores, often selling staples like bread, milk, cold drinks and cigarettes (staple?:) ), mostly run from homes. I looked for a good definition. Loved this one, from Bogosi Mothshegwa: Spaza Shop Lessons, Lesson #1: 'Always squeeze the bread 🍞 at the bottom. And check the date if you must', whose family ran one of these shops, which he likens to 'a mini Pick-n Pay, Checkers or Woolies'. 'It is as convenient as convenient can get. We sold everything, at the same time, there wasn’t everything to buy. It’s the craziest thing, if you desperately needed something, sometimes you wouldn’t find it, but again, you’d find anything and everything you needed.'

The term spaza is from the isiZulu language, meaning hidden or camouflaged. Spaza shops are now legalized on the condition that they obtain a trading license in accordance with Business Act 71 of 1991 ). South African spaza shop market bigger than Shoprite

13:23 The Nielsen Company is an information, data, and market measurement firm. New York based, it attempts to provide its clients with valuable insights into global consumer behavior and marketing information.

14:27 Kota - slang word derived from the 'quarter' loaf of white bread that serves as a delicious, carb-loaded, dense 'bowl' containing any number of various artery-clogging and fat-drenched fillings that make it the most satisfying cheap shareable fast food to come out of South Africa.

14:28 Shisanyamas - Follow Bloomberg's Shisa Nyama index for a real picture of the impact of South Africa's inflation. For those who dream of opening a shisanyama business, a first step: A guide to launching a shisanyama business in South Africa.

15:15 Mogodu Mondays

15:21 Tripe is made from the stomach lining of animals and is widely used as a source of low-cost protein. Look at the picture in the link and then understand why GG laughs at my face of, well, horror. I used to look all neutral about tripe, cos it's very uncool to say you don't like it, just like it's uncool to say you don't like oysters. But that phase has passed.

17:03 Fruit & Veg City (established in 1993 in Cape Town and now known as Food Lover's Market) is a large retail supplier of fresh produce. 'At the heart of the business is a keen desire to be the best green grocers, butchers, cheesemonger and fishmongers'. From their website.

17:09 City Deep Fresh Produce market - now known as the Joburg Market - is the largest fresh produce market in Africa, measuring a total of 65 000m2. Trade takes place in three warehouse-like food hubs (the Fruit Hub, the Potato & Onion Hub and the Vegetable Hub) and four of the halls are populated by wholesalers who sell smaller quantities of the commodities traded at the market.

19:04 Vetkoek, also known as amagwinya, is deepfried bread that is crispy on the outside and warm and fluffy on the inside. They were introduced to South Africa by the Dutch, though I really struggled to find any great info on its history. If you have any, please share!

19:05 Dombolo is steamed bread which can either be made as a loaf or as dumplings. Find the recipe in Dorah Sitole's 40 years of iconic foods.

21:25 ‘Carrying a Checkers’ - in the Dictionary of South African English: 'any plastic supermarket packet with handles', evolved over time because of the ubiquitous packets from Checkers, one of South Africa's largest retail stores. Talk about marketing for free!

21:33 Chappies - South Africa's iconic bubble gum made to outsell America's pink Wicks gum.

25:13 ‘Sissies’ - a derogatory slur for someone who is regarded as cowardly. Of British origin, in the mid-1800s.

25:23 Hearing Grasshoppers Jump - the Story of Raymond Ackerman. Raymond Ackerman is a South African retail icon because he turned Pick 'n Pay into one of South Africa's largest supermarket retailers after buying four stores from the founder in the 1960s. He came from a retailing family; his father Gus founded Ackermans clothing group after World War 1. The Ackermans retail group was later sold to competitor Greatermans, which started the supermarket group Checkers, now part of bigger rival Shoprite. It is at Greatermans where Ackerman started his career in retail, when he was also put in charge of launching the Checkers supermarkets.

28:06 Hawkers are informal traders, often of fruit and vegetables, but also of baked or cooked goods as well as snack foods. 'Don't treat hawkers as a nuisance, they feed the city's poor communities, cheaply and efficiently.' I couldn't believe when I saw that: Hawkers need a licence to operate in Johannesburg.

28:21 Baragwanath taxi rank is a busy taxi rank opposite the Baragwanath hospital in Soweto, Johannesburg. It is 1.4 km long and 50 m wide and has been accurately described as a 'mall without walls' due to the many hawkers that line the rank's road.

30:19 South Africa's 1998 Competition Act and the Competition Commission Rules

34:11 ZCC Church is one of the largest African initiated churches in Southern Africa and the second in Africa. It was founded by Bishop Engenas Barnabas Lekganyanein in 1910 and is known for its distinctive blend of Christian and traditional African religious practices. Lekganyane wanted to establish a Christian church that would accept the lifestyle, culture, political development, and history of Africa. Listen to some beautiful hymns on the official ZCC Youtube channel.

34:14 The Nazareth Baptist Church (Church of Shembe) religion is a combination of Zulu culture and Christianity that has been based on the old testament of the Bible. It is the second largest African initiated church in South Africa and was founded by Isaiah Shembe in 1911. Shortly after the church's founding, Shembe acquired the farm in KwaZulu-Natal that became his holy city of Ekuphakameni. He also established an annual pilgrimage to the sacred mountain of Nhlangakazi, 85km north of Durban. He was noted for his 'dramatic healings, vivid parables and uncanny insights into people's thoughts'. He composed music, wrote many moving hymns, and provided his followers with a rich liturgical tradition based on modified forms of traditional Zulu dancing.

39:13 Model C schools - former white schools in South Africa, that admitted students of all races under the guidance of their governing bodies. This category no longer exists.

40:44 Listen to Efosa Ojomo in AfricanOptimist Episode 1.

42:05 Tolaram Group and their journey

42:24 Sandton Square, first built as a brutalist high rise building in 1973 and now known as Nelson Mandela Square, is a high-end shopping centre situated in the rich Johannesburg suburb of Sandton. It is marketed as the richest square mile in Africa due to the highest number of millionaires living in this area, as well as being the base for the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and most of South Africa's leading banks and law firms. The 2023 Wealthiest cities report revealed that Johannesburg, home to 6.2 million people, hosts 14,600 high net-worth individuals, thirty of them being dollar centi-millionaires and two are dollar-billionaires.

43:11 Kantar is a London-based and 'the world's leading marketing data and analytics business and an indispensable brand partner to the world’s top companies, including 96 of the world’s 100 biggest advertisers the world's.'

44:33 Snail soup or 'Ofe ejula,' is 'a highly revered delicacy among the Igbo people of Nigeria. Ofe Ejula is quite pricey in African restaurants because snails are hard to find.'

44:56 The history of instant noddles (there is even a museum about it!

46:00 Maggi is an international brand of seasonings, instant soups, and noodles that originated in Switzerland in the late 19th century through Swiss entrepreneur Julius Maggi. The Maggi company was acquired by Nestlé in 1947.

50:43 Unilever is a British multinational fast-moving consumer goods company founded in 1929 following the merger of British soap maker Lever Brothers and Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie. It is headquartered in London, and employs 127,000 people across the world and represents over 400 brand names in 190 countries. As far back as 1883, the UK founder launched Sunlight Soap, a South African kitchen cleaning staple. Omo is Unilever's largest detergent brand and used extensively across Africa.

53:37 Harvard Business School interview with Nando's co-founder Rob Brozin about Nando's.

54:21 Michael House is a private senior school for boys founded in 1896 by the Anglican Church in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

57:18 Tiger Brands is a South African packaged goods company and one of South Africa's oldest ongoing businesses, having started in Newtown, Johannesburg, in 1921. It has produced some of South Africa's most consumed brands, including Jungle Oats, Mrs Ball's Chutney, All Gold Tomato Sauce and Black Cat Peanut Butter. In addition to the company's South African operations, Tiger Brands has direct and indirect interests in international food businesses in Chile, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Nigeria, Kenya, Lesotho and Cameroon. Corporates move into township economy.

59:45 Value-added tax (VAT) is collected on a product at every stage of the supply chain where value is added to it, from production to point of sale. Currently stands at 15% in South Africa.

01:00:48 Shop2Shop is a South African company founded in 2017 'Providing informal business owners with better working capital solutions that create opportunities to run a safer and more profitable business.

01:00:49 The Flash Group is 'a South African fintech that strives to make people's lives easier by using technology'.

01:00:50 Kazang 'makes it safe and easy for spaza shops and informal traders to sell prepaid airtime, data, electricity and other services from their devices or the Kazan mobile app.

01:01:31 Selpal - a South African FinTech company that operates specifically in the township and informal economy, or the “Unseen Economy”.

01:02:47 Capitec - Harvard Business Review on 'How Capitec Became South Africa's biggest Bank'.

01:02:48 Standard Bank was established in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in 1862, then known as The Standard Bank of British South Africa. It started doing business in a tent in Johannesburg, then known as Ferreira's Camp, in 1886, when it became the first bank to open a branch on the Witwatersrand gold fields.

01:02:50 Yoko is a South African fintech start-up offering solutions designed specifically for small business. 'In South Africa, 70% of the adult population use bank cards as their primary form of financial transaction, yet at the same time, fewer than 20% of small businesses are set up with the hardware and technology to accept cards as a form of payment.'

01:04:11 The Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) in South Africa gives short-term relief to workers when they become unemployed or are unable to work because of maternity, adoption and parental leave, or illness. It also provides relief to the dependants of a deceased contributor. Pay as you earn (PAYE) or Employees’ Tax refers to the tax required to be deducted by an employer from an employee’s remuneration paid or payable.

01:04:21 'Business registration in Rwanda typically takes a maximum of 3 days if all the required documentation and information are provided accurately and in a timely manner.' Ease of setting up business in South Africa.

01:04:31 The Companies and Intellectual Properties Commission (CIPC) does registration of companies, co-operatives and intellectual property rights (trademarks, patents, designs and copyright) and maintenance thereof.