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< Back to all guests #6 Erica de Greef - on Vogue Business’ accolade as one of 100 global fashion ‘agitators’, using African fashion as a decolonial tool, re-imagining Western 1960s dresses and Africa’s ‘folded’ fashion 04 March 2024 FIND BELOW 1 Guest Bio 2 Episode Description 3 Show Notes 4 Time Stamps 5 Transcript 1 Guest Bio Erica de Greef is a prominent figure in the realm of fashion curation and research. Having dedicated years to the exploration and preservation of Africa's rich sartorial legacy, Erica is celebrated for her groundbreaking work in uncovering untold stories and shedding light on often overlooked aspects of the fashion history. Her research transcends mere garments, delving into the societal, economic and political dimensions that shape Africa's fashion landscape. As a curator, Erica de Greef orchestrates exhibitions that not only showcase the aesthetic brilliance of African fashion but also challenge perceptions and provoke thought on issues of identity, representation and globalization. Through exhibitions, digital media and scholarly publications, she strives to foster a deeper understanding of and appreciation for the diverse tapestry of African fashion, both past and present. Erica lectured for 14 years at LISOF School of Fashion (now Stadio School of Fashion), with two years as Head of Department. There she interrogated and overhauled the fashion curricula and promoted critical fashion knowledge with a strong local content, enabling the development of projects of research and display that engaged with notions of fashion, history, society and identity. Many of her students moved on to become celebrated South African designers, including Wanda Lephoto, Thebe Magugu, Rich Mnisi and Ella Buter (Superella). In 2019 Erica co-founded the African Fashion Research Institute (AFRI) with partner Lesiba Mabitsela. The institute ‘shares the work of local and global African fashion pioneers, academics, makers, thinkers, students, critics and leaders through fashion-driven decolonial research projects and digital platforms’. Their focus is on 'rewriting fashion histories that speak to afro-centric ways of wearing, knowing, making, and styling, often absent in fashion books, exhibitions, and imaginations’. One of their notable current projects is the creation of a glossary of terms for African fashion, under the umbrella concept of ‘The Fold’ - inspired by the fact that a lot of African fashion involves the folding of textiles in unique ways in different countries across the continent, and the notion that a folded material has an intrinsic characteristic of potentially hiding something in its folds. After successfully completing a Masters in Fine Arts at the University of Witwatersrand (2011), Erica completed a Post-Graduate Diploma in Higher Education at the University of Cape Town (2013), both with distinction. She holds a PhD from the Centre for African Studies from the University of Cape Town which posits how absences in local museum fashion/dress collections could be redressed through a digital (both film and the internet) reimagining in contemporary curation. 2 Episode Description In 2023, Vogue Business named Erica de Greef and African Fashion Research Institute (AFRI) co-founder Lesiba Mabitsela as part of a group of 100 ‘next-gen entrepreneurs and agitators’ in the global fashion world, ready to overhaul the current system and show us a different future. In this episode, we unpack why Vogue gave them that accolade, how Erica sees fashion as a decolonising tool, what different stories need to be told (and how a different approach to fashion can tell those), what to do with white colonial clothes collections buried inside South African and other museums, and how a single archived dress can be re-imagined to fill the gaps in African fashion history. Erica discusses the evolution of African fashion, from being marginalized to gaining global recognition and challenging the traditional narratives within the fashion industry. The conversation covers various topics including the redefinition of African fashion, the importance of acknowledging fashion as a cultural expression beyond Western influences, the journey and role of AFRI in shaping new fashion narratives, and the personal experiences that have influenced Erica’s approach to fashion research and education. Erica explains why the words ‘Africa’ and ‘Fashion’ were never placed together as a phrase in the past and also explains why the term ‘slow fashion’ might not be the most suitable, or chosen, term for fashion in Africa. It is only in the last twenty years or so that South Africa started to develop its own local fashion brands, and in this episode Erica reveals the part she played in that development. For those wishing to understand the past erasure of African fashion and its relegation to ethnographic museums - and the work being done to change that - this episode is for you. 3 Show Notes 00:46 ‘The Devil wears Prada’ - lumpy blue sweater scene 01:27 The African Fashion Research Institute (AFRI) 01:33 The Vogue Business 100 Innovators: Next-gen entrepreneurs and agitators 02:52 Lesiba Mabitsela 12:53 The identity politics of wax print. - a fascinating insight into Dutch wax print’s political history. And what looks like a fantastic film, here's the trailer for the Wax Print film 13:53 LISOF is now known as Stadio Higher Education 17:23 Malick Sidibé (1936-2016) wa s a Malian photographer who was noted for his black-and-white studies of popular culture in the 1960s in Bamako , Mali. The Archive of Malian Photography hosts 14,309 scanned negatives and corresponding metadata from the archives of Malick Sidibé. This figure represents about 10% of his complete archive. 17:24 James Barnor is a Ghanain photog rapher. His quote on his foundation's website is probably more relevant now than it ever was: ‘I came across a magazine with an inscription that said, “A civilization flourishes when men plant trees under which they themselves never sit.” But it’s not only plants – putting something in somebody’s life, a young person’s life, is the same as planting a tree that you will not cut and sell. That has helped me a lot in my work. Sometimes the more you give, the more you get. That’s why I’m still going at 90!’ 18:40 Technically Model C schools don't exist as a separate category but the term was used to denote a former whites only school that is government-funded, however they are administered and largely funded by the parent body. 19:00 SA Fashion Week first began in 1997 by Lucilla Booyzen. Download its 21 years of SA Fashion Week booklet. From the intro: 'In August 1997, in a purpose-designed white marquee in what is now Mandela Square, the heart of Johannesburg’s high-powered new commercial hub, South African Fashion Week rolled out the black carpet and announced itself open for business.' 20:03 Wanda Lephoto ' explores a notion of luxury dress merging African cultures, traditions, identities and approaches with global nuances to form new propositions for representation'. 2 0:06 Rich Mnisi is 'a contemporary, multi-disciplinary brand based in Johannesburg, South Africa, founded by Mnisi in 2015'. 20:08 Thebe Magugu is 'a luxury South African brand'. Worth a watch at the bottom of his home page: a short doccie, 'Discard Theory' ' which he filmed of Dunusa , the street in downtown Joburg where dumped clothes from the U.S. and Europe are sold for a song. 20:10 Superella is run by self-defined 'clothes maker' (not fashion designer) Ella Buter and sells ' easy, free and comfortable layers. Quality clothes that last for years and years. Small production runs. Using the very best natural fabrics' 20:14 Roman Handt is 'a fashion designer / textile scientist' 22:56 Drum magazine was establ ished in the 1950s and ' became an important platform for a new generation of writers and photographers who changed the way Black people were represented in society'. 22:57 Stoned Cherrie began in 2000 and became one of South Africa's most award-winning designer brands, through the use of bespoke textiles and t-shirts emblazoned with political and cultural South African icons 23:06 Black Coffee is the label of South African designer Jacques van der Watt and was founded in 1998 23:51 loxion kulca (a hybrid slang term for location (township) + culture) is a South African streetwear brand co-founded by Wandi Nzimande (who died of COVID in 2021 ) and Sechaba Mogale 24:32 The Space is a retail and online store that sells garments by well-known and lesser known South African designers. They are 'all about local fashion and accessories created by African designers, locally made and distributed'. 24:39 YDE is the Young Designers Emporium, a retailer providing emerging South African designers with an established platform to sell 25:06 Fashion Cities Africa was an exhibition held in Brighton Museum, England, from 30 April 2016 to January 2017. It was 'the first major UK exhibition dedicated to contemporary African fashion'. 25:42 Erica de Greef's PhD thesis 'Sartorial Disruptions' 27:05 Edward Enninful stepped down as British Vogue's editor-in-chief in February 2024 but will stay on at Condé Nast to become Vogue’s global creative and cultural adviser. 28:30 Iziko Museums of South Africa was formed in 1999 and now operates 11 national museums , a planetarium, the social history centre, 3 subject specific libraries and the SAS Somerset, a boom defence ship. It is the oldest museum in southern Africa, and together, all affiliated museums contain about 2.26 million artefacts. 30:27 An ibheshu ( an apron covering the buttocks ) is made of calf skin and is knee length for young men and calf length for older men 31:36 Mode Museum , MoMu, is Antwerps's fashion museum founded in 2002. + ‘ Beyond Desire’ was an exhibition that ran from February to August 2005 and examined the way in which African and Western cultures influenced each other 32:42 History of Museum Africa 34:00 The Bernberg Museum of costume was situated on Jan Smuts Avenu near the Johannesburg Zoo. It was demolished to make way for the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre 35:22 The Sartists are a ' multidisciplinary collective made up of Andile Buka , Kabelo Kungwane , Wanda Lephoto and Xzavier Zulu who are seeking to challenge insular notions about blackness with a documentary approach to style and identity'. 35:34 Santu Mofokeng (1956 - 2020) was a prolific and well-known news and documentary photographer. The Black Photo Album was a collection of private photographs commissioned by urban black working- and middle-class families between 1890 and 195 0. In this work, Mofokeng analyses the sensibilities, aspirations and self-image of the black population and its desire for representation and social recognition in times of colonial rule and suppression. 38:21 Rhodes Must Fall . Rhodes Must Fall is a protest movement that began on 9 March 2015, originally directed against a statue of British Imperialist Cecil Rhodes at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. The campaign for the statue's removal received global attention and led to a wider movement to decolonise education, by inspiring the emergence of allied student movements at other universities across the world. 39:46 Nelson Mandela's sartorial choices , including a photo of him in the beaded collar (and what few people know: a bedspread draped across his torso - he was in hiding, with nothing else at hand) 40:02 Winnie Mandela - photo of Winnie during the Rivonia Trial, in a black dress with the same beaded collar worn by Nelson Mandela as described in the photo above. 40:13 Iconic photo of a young Miriam Makeba on front cover of Drum magazine, by Jürgen Schadeberg 41:35 Zeitz Mocaa : 21 years: Making Histories with South African Fashion Week 42:02 Curating fashion as decolonial practice: MBlaselo and a Politics of Remembering , Erica de Greef 48:01 The International Fashion Showcase 2019 48:52 Ami Doshi Shah , Kenya 48:56 Cedric Mizero , Rwanda 53:01 The Fold Glossary 53:42 Bark cloth 54:51 Isidwaba 55:54 History of the Iqhiya 01:01:01 The Global Fashioning Assembly 01:02:56 Rolando Vasquez 4 Time Stamps 00:00 Introduction to African Fashion 00:45 The Influence of Western Fashion 01:22 Interview with Erica de Greef 02:05 Erica's Journey into Fashion 05:46 The Role of Fashion in Apartheid South Africa 06:53 The Binary of Fashion and Dress 08:52 Erica's Early Life and Fashion Journey 10:14 The Evolution of African Fashion 12:02 The Impact of Fashion on Society 14:39 The Role of Museums in Fashion History 15:44 The Challenges of African Fashion in Museums 17:54 The Future of African Fashion 38:39 The Power of Clothing in Telling Stories and Fostering Inclusivity 38:57 Exploring How to Re-imagine Nelson Mandela's Lost Wardrobe 39:51 The Lost Fashion of Winnie Mandela and Miriam Makeba 41:30 The Future of Fashion Exhibitions 42:48 The Role of Museums in the Digital Age 46:21 The Journey of the African Fashion Research Institute 48:27 The Power of Digital Exhibitions 50:05 The Fold: A New Perspective on African Fashion 56:47 Slow Fashion 01:01:36 The Future of the Global Fashioning Assembly 01:06:38 Conclusion: The Need for Healing through Fashion 5 Transcript FIN AfricanOptimist Ep6 Erica de Greef_Transcript .pdf Download PDF • 136KB Back to top ^ More on Erica de Greef Articles by Erica de Greef Confronting the Absence of Histories, Presence of Traumas and Beauty in Museum Africa, Johannesburg, Alison Maloney, Wanda Lephoto and Erica de Greef, 2022 Three pairs of Khaki trousers, or how to decolonialise a museum , Erica de Greef Long Read: Fashion, Sustainability and Decoloniality, Twyg Magazine, Erica de Greef, 2019 A collection of academic articles by Erica de Greef Video Masterclass 4: Can we connect slow fashion with our indigenous knowledge? Practicing Decoloniality, the Global Fashioning Assembly @State of Fashion 2022

< Back to all guests #9 Joséphine Katumba - The rise (and importance) of the Intrapreneur, jumping on rocket ships without a reserved seat and ‘weighing and paying’ as a retail model of the future 2 May 2024 FIND BELOW 1 Guest Bio 2 Episode Description 3 Show Notes 4 Time Stamps 5 Transcript 1 Guest Bio Joséphine Katumba is a powerhouse in the realm of Food Systems Transformation, addressing the critical issues of food security and sustainability. As the Chief of Staff at Wakanda Food Accelerator, she's the strategic mind behind innovative initiatives driving real change in how we distribute and consume food. One of Joséphine's standout projects is Gcwalisa, a groundbreaking initiative focused on democratizing access to nutritious food while confronting the systemic challenges faced by low-income communities. Her dedication to this cause has earned her widespread recognition and acclaim within the industry. In 2022, Joséphine was honored as Africa's Brightest Young Mind by the World Food Programme, a testament to her leadership and impact in shaping the future of food systems. Building on this success, in 2023, she was also named a Mercedes Benz BEVISIONEER, solidifying her status as a driver of positive change in the food sector. 2 Episode Description In this episode, you will learn a couple of things. Firstly, you will get a behind the scenes look at how you take an idea (let’s face it, haven’t we all had them - ‘One day I will open…’ ‘Some day I will sell…’) and turn it into reality. And secondly, how you can do this not only as an entrepreneur, but as an intrapreneur within an organisation. Just as exciting, at much less personal risk. Our guest Joséphine Katumba shares how, while growing her own small business, she was recruited by celebrity entrepreneur himself, Miles Kubheka (from ‘Vuyo’ fame and founder of the Wakanda Food Accelerator ) to help create Gcwalisa , an exciting ‘weigh and pay’ mini retail model first piloted in Johannesburg’s Alexandra township (developed in 1912 as the only place where Africans could buy freehold land, and now adjacent to Sandton (one of the richest suburbs of Johannesburg). Joséphine takes us on the two-year journey of growing Gcwalisa into a model pilot mini retailer that is now on the brink of scaling up and expanding its horizons. With her signature calm voice and in matter-of-fact detail, we get a glimpse of the iteration and patience required to birth a brand new 'firstborn', that lets you buy food for the money you have in your pocket or in exactly the quantities you need. Joséphine is the picture of Zen, and could grow anything she puts her mind to. Join me in finding out how she does it. And why. 3 Show Notes 00:01 Sheryl Sandberg is one of Silicon Valley’s most successful and influential women, known for executive positions at Apple, Google and Yahoo, and for becoming the first female member of Facebook’s Board of Directors. Currently she is COO of Meta and Founder of LeanIn.Org 01:11 Miles Kubheka is the founder of Wakanda Food Accelerator , and a celebrated South African entrepreneur. 06:54 Gcwalisa is a mini retailer that aims to democratise nutritious food and basic household products in low-income communities by selling these items through a weight and pay model. 08:16 The SAB Foundation was established in 2010 in South Africa. Since then it has been dedicated to supporting and empowering small, medium, and micro-sized enterprises in the country. The SAB Foundation has deployed almost half a billion Rand in grant funding, business development support, and interest-free loans to over 5,000 entities. 08:38 Spaza shops are small convenience stores found in South African townships, often run from the owners’ homes 08:57 London Road was renamed Vincent Tshabalala almost twenty years ago, but can’t shake its original name. 13:24 Gcwalisa’s offices are in the Wakanda Food Accelerator offices in the 27 Boxes Precinct in Melville in Johannesburg. 24:46 Gcwalisa’s promotional video 26:20 Piece jobs, also known as piecework or casual labor, refer to employment arrangements where workers are paid based on the number of pieces or tasks they complete rather than receiving a fixed salary or hourly wage. These types of jobs are common in various industries, including manufacturing, agriculture, and services. 27:52 The phrase 'poverty tax' is often attributed to, and was popularised by, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., an iconic civil rights leader and activist in the United States. He used this term to describe the additional costs and burdens that low-income individuals and communities face simply because they are poor. These costs can include higher prices for basic goods and services, limited access to affordable transportation and housing options, and difficulties in accessing financial services without incurring high fees. One of the best explanation of the poverty tax is given by sir Terry Pratchett through Captain Vimes, as he contemplates the buying of boots. From Men at Arms : 'The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles. But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.' - This is the Captain Samuel Vimes Boots theory of socioeconomic unfairness. 29:44 Consol Glass is a glass, ceramic and concrete manufacturing company, and is the largest glass container manufacturer in Africa, with factories in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya. While Consol was officially incorporated as Consolidated Glass Works Limited in 1946 , it has effectively been in business since 1944 when financiers Anglovaal acquired glass manufacturer Pretoria Glass. In 2022 it was acquired by the Ardagh group. 30:05 In 2009, Uganda implemented a ban on the importation, sale, and use of lightweight plastic bags (less than 30 microns thick). This measure aimed to reduce plastic bag usage and mitigate environmental damage caused by single-use plastics. While Uganda has taken steps towards reducing plastic waste, achieving a "plastic-free" status requires ongoing efforts at the national, community, and individual levels. In 2020, Greenpeace said 34 out of Africa’s 54 countries have either passed a law banning plastics and implemented it or have passed a law with the intention of implementation. Of those, 16 have totally banned plastic bags or have done so partially without yet introducing regulations to enforce the bans. 30:00 A ‘Checkers’, also ‘chekas’ is a plastic bag, preferably with handles. Such a bag may have OK writ large (other large South African retailer), but is still a 'checkers'... Word commonly used by non-whites throughout South Africa. 32:02 SAASA grants in South Africa refer to the South African Social Security Agency (SAASA) grants, which are government assistance programs aimed at providing financial support to eligible individuals and households. These grants are designed to help improve the well-being and livelihoods of vulnerable and low-income individuals in South Africa. 37:28 ‘Best Before’ are ‘one-stop grocery clearance stores’ that was founded by two Johannesburg businessmen in 2017, after noting the success In Europe and Australia of concept stores selling short and past-dated quality food and personal care products at highly discounted price. 40:21 Woolworths is South Africa’s upmarket grocery and clothes and lifestyle goods retailer, and is part of Woolworths Holdings Limited (WHL), which has grown into a leading retail group with a strong presence in sub-Saharan Africa, Australia and New Zealand. WHL consists of two major operating divisions: Woolworths South Africa and Country Road Group. 4 Time Stamps 00:00 Embracing the Unknown: Cheryl Sandberg's Google Analogy 00:41 Introducing the African Optimist Podcast 00:54 The Journey of an Intrapreneur: Meeting Joséphine Katumba 01:07 Josephine's Entrepreneurial Spirit Meets Miles Kubheka 12:56 Designing and Implementing the Gcwalisa Model 18:03 Community Feedback and Adjusting the Offering 21:31 Understanding Gcwalisa's Impact and Philosophy 28:24 Exploring the Poverty Tax and Packaging Solutions 28:47 Customer Journey and Packaging Innovations at Gcwalisa 29:48 Shifting Consumer Behaviour and Environmental Impact 31:19 Understanding Gcwalisa's Customer Demographics 33:57 Real-life Customer Stories: Impact and Gratitude 40:50 The Business Model and Scaling Up 41:21 The Importance of Patience in Business Growth 43:57 Facing Competition and Maintaining Originality 46:51 Challenges and Learnings 49:55 From Entrepreneur to Intrapreneur: A Personal Journey 55:37 Closing Remarks and Resources 5 Transcript AfricanOptimist ep9 Josephine Katumba Transcript .pdf Download PDF • 119KB Back to top ^ More on Joséphine Katumba Video The Balancing Act of Making Good Food More Affordable TEDxJohannesburg Salon talk, February 2024

we succeed against great odds Heading 4 Heading 6 #3 Heading 4 Heading 6 #2 Heading 4 Heading 6 #1 Latest episodes All episodes Prosper Create Nourish Wellness Culture Learning Technology Marketing Africanoptimist is hosted by Sanja Göhre, a social scientist by training, born and bred in Johannesburg, South Africa. In awe of all who rise to challenges, I interview doers and thinkers to find out how they are changing the continent. Subscribe to Our Newsletter Enter your email here Sign Up Thanks for submitting! FOLLOW US Contact GET IN TOUCH Got Questions? Just Contact Me Below First Name Last Name Email Subject Message Submit Thanks for submitting!

About AfricanOptimist Collapsible text is great for longer section titles and descriptions. It gives people access to all the info they need, while keeping your layout clean. Link your text to anything, or set your text box to expand on click. Write your text here... Go to all episodes A Case fo r Optimism Kevin Kelly It is extremely difficult to create a desirable future without first envisioning it. ​ To imagine is really the first step in creating anything. History is filled with accounts of people who held an optimistic belief others thought unlikely, or even impossible. This optimistic pre-visualization is a necessary component of change. Since we cannot be certain of the future, optimism is only a belief -- a stance that could be incorrect. ​ On the surface, an optimistic belief might seem no more valid than the stance of pessimism. But the deep history of new ideas makes it very clear that the optimistic stance of believing something is possible is a requirement to make anything new real, and is thus more powerful than pessimism. ​ In the long run, optimists shape the future. About the host Collapsible text is great for longer section titles and descriptions. It gives people access to all the info they need, while keeping your layout clean. Link your text to anything, or set your text box to expand on click. Write your text here...

< Back to Home MEET THE HOST MOST LIKELY TO SAY: There is always a solution. Sanja Göhre is a multi-skilled audio-visual and content producer whose career spans over 25 years . She has travelled widely to cover stories from a range of different countries , including Albania, Angola, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Greece, Kenya, Mozambique, Pakistan, Romania, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Thailand, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Some of her most formative professional years were spent in Geneva, Switzerland, where she worked within the United Nations system for four years, including the World Health Organisation (WHO), the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the newly founded The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria . Back home in South Africa, she led a small research team working on the National Heritage Monument’s Long March to Freedom (a collection of 100 life-size bronzes of some of Africa’s most iconic liberation heroes) and then managed 10 southern African countries as Senior Communications Manager for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). Sanja has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Journalism and Politics and a Joint Honours in Economics and Journalism from Rhodes University, South Africa, and a Masters in Social Sciences from the Open University, United Kingdom. ​ She is an avid advocate of human-centred design and has added to her skills by studying UX Design through the Interaction Design Foundation, as she believes the discipline of UX thinking can be usefully applied to some of Africa’s most pressing problems, especially climate change and economic development.

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