From honey, tea, reed diffusers, perfume, plastic construction bricks, shapewear, mopane products and wine to olive oil, clothing, skin and haircare and sneakers – there is simply no end to the inventiveness of South Africans.
And no Covid-19, economic recession or joblessness formed against us shall prosper!
If you are looking to do some early Christmas gift shopping this Black Friday, why not spend it on supporting these 23 local businesses?
Besides the fact that their products are simply just dope, by purchasing from them, you will be investing in the future of South Africa and its economy.
1) Tlou Tea
Tlou Tea offers a range of hand-blended teas with carefully selected herbs, spices, botanicals and carefully selected adaptogens that aid mental and physical well-being.
Owner and founder, Ditshego Sedikela, comes with years of experience and has explored many forms of wellness, from mental and spiritual to physical wellness.
2) Ubuntu Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Loyiso Manga, the founder of the extra virgin olive oil label, took a leap of faith, got a loan and invested in his Ubuntu brand – covering more than 9 000km in his Ubuntu EVOO national tour.
His Ubuntu olive oil has proved to be wildly popular.
3) Ramtsilo Plastic Bricks
Kedibone and Kekeletso Tsiloane say starting the first plastic brick company in South Africa has helped them cement themselves in a male-dominated industry.
4) Goodleaf
The CBD brand’s new cannabis-based skincare range uses more environmentally friendly packaging, is organic, vegan, dermatologist-approved and perfume- and animal cruelty-free.
5) Augenic SA
She has probably been stung by a bee once or twice, but she knows her way around a hive, just like any queen bee.
Bee farmer and businesswoman Mokgadi Mabela (33) was inspired by her father to start her honey farming business Native Nosi many years ago. She grew up eating the best honey, raw, unrefined because her father was a beekeeper.
6) Ethnogenics
Her alopecia diagnosis led Gail Mabalane down the path of investigating what good haircare looks like.
Now the actress has one of the bestselling haircare ranges at Clicks, Ethnogenics.
"We are so proud to be the NUMBER 1 selling premium hair care brand in Clicks. We’ve also been NUMBER 1 online for 2months. As a brand that is only 7months old, this is a huge achievement!" an excited Gail posted from her Ethnogenics haircare account."
In a recent Instagram Live, she said that she personally responds to every DM sent to the Ethnogenics account because she understands the hair struggles people go through.
"We couldn’t have done it without you! Thank you for the love and support. Please keep sharing your experience with us."
7) Matomane
With three employees in Phalaborwa, harvesting mopane, and four in Joburg, where the sales, marketing and distribution happens, Wendy Vesela-Ntimbeni is building a thriving, earth-friendly food business.
The delicious mopane worms which are the main ingredient of her products, Matomani, are what's making her customers keep coming back for more and more of her tasty protein bars, dried worms and flour.
First, there was hype around spanx, then there was SKIMS – before there was Lizzo’s Yitty.
Now, thanks to local media personality and actress Thando “ Thabooty” Thabethe, shapewear is a thing you can easily order – along with a meal – on Uber Eats.
The range, available at Edgars and now on Uber Eats, includes padded tights that cinch your belly while giving you extra shape around the booty, lingerie for small to extra large sizes and corsets with seamless pantylines.
9) Klein Goederust wine and virgin oil
From the black-owned winery in the Cape Franschhoek region comes flavourful vino and extra virgin olive oil.
The Kleni Goererust brand owned by Paul Siguqa has already won some awards and international recognition in a short space of time.
When Paul was growing up, he remembers part of his mother’s wages, as a farm labourer, being paid in wine, which she did not drink, the entrepreneur told the New York times recently.
"His mother, Nomaroma Siguqa, 71, told him that she would be the last generation of their family to work the fields."
10) Skinny Sbu Socks
Gents don't want socks as gifts, the South African joke goes.
But these socks are the kind or present that may blow his socks off this Christmas – just be sure to also thrown in a sweater, T-shirt and hoodie, which you won't repossess without compensation!
The most expensive Skinny Sbu socks were selling for R940 per pair, the brand founder Sibusiso Ngwenya told Drum in a previous interview, shortly after extending his range with fleece-lined sweaters and hoodies.
11) Saint d’Ici
The local perfumery has been around for just under a decade, and has established itself as one of the best scent makers around.
Founder Marie Aoun and her team create small, limited-edition batches made with ingredients from local farmers.
Read more | Entrepreneurship the answer to high youth unemployment, say blog founder and livestock farmer
If you are sneakerhead or shoe fan, why not head on over to these 11 local shoemakers' pages?
12) Vexx Footwear
13) Mphahla
14) Vosk
15) Reefer
16) Bathu
17) Magents
18) Spelelete
19) Baronza
20) Vaya Footwear
21) Drip Footwear
22) Nguni Brand
Read more | ‘I must be excused from family issues’ – Meshack Mavuso Magabane on his Shaka Zulu play
23) Phiri Ice Kream
Cannabis often has a negative connotation and is associated with drug addiction. But Chef Roderick Phiri and brand manager Paul Phiri want to shed the stereotypes around the use of cannabis, especially in food with their cannabis-infused ice cream.
To make their ice cream, Rodney and his team outsource the best local produce.
“Our emphasis is on using the utmost greatest of ingredients; from the chocolate to the cannabis in the ice cream,” Paul adds.
They use organic outdoor-grown cannabis and comply with the standards published by the Minister of Health on 23 May 2019.
“The quantities used per serving are 20mg, which is equivalent to a rolled joint, basically. Our ice flavours are a gin and tonic, which has been infused with gin, lemon, mint, and of course our hint of magic cannabis,” Roderick says.
