Buying local is lekker
Help create, sustain jobs by supporting SA firms
Buying locally manufactured products helps to create and sustain jobs for South African citizens. This is according to the chief executive of Proudly South African, Eustace Mashimbye.
Proudly SA is the country’s official buy local advocacy campaign and has a mandate to drive the buy local message.
Its largest funder is the department of trade and industry, and this partially makes it an agency of the department. It has been around since 2001. Mashimbye said sending money back to the economy and retaining existing jobs is effectively what a buy local choice means. Mashimbye said SA products and services stand up to scrutiny against many imported goods. “If any company wants to build a loyal customer base, it knows that it has to provide value for money, and that is for consumers to decide.”
All Proudly SA member companies’ products are audited for quality. He said the best support that Proudly SA gives member companies is access to markets. “Without access to market, a business cannot thrive, even if it has the best products, so this is what we see as our most critical role,” Mashimbye said. One of the local companies listed on the database is Chepa Streetwear, a clothing and footwear design and manufacturing business that is the brainchild of Dumisani Mahlangu, 34, and his wife Candice. “We wanted clothing that is African and modern because we always loved African prints and there were many requests for bomber jackets from our potential clients,” Mahlangu said.
The company has already managed to create eight direct and indirect jobs and distributes products using an online platform nationwide. – This article first appeared in GCIS-Vukuzenzele