MPUMI MOTSABI

Entrepreneur

In an era where representivity matters and Black children should be able to see positive representations of themselves, Mpumi Motsabi (36) saw a need to fill that gap in the market.

Her entrepreneurial journey was born from the wish to celebrate African children and their unique beauty. When she was growing up, there was nothing that celebrated her as a child, and Mpumi wanted a different reality for her daughters.

When looking for dolls for her two young daughters that they could relate to, but finding none, Mpumi and her husband Thabo saw a gap in the market. They launched Toys with Roots in 2015, and now have their range of Rainbow Dolls .

Mpumi’s first challenge was access to a consumer market. Initially, she sold dolls on Facebook, and later approached the Shoprite Group. A buyer from the Group facilitated a partnership with an existing toy supplier - whose mentoring helped them align with Shoprite’s business processes - as well as to find another company that could produce the volumes they needed at the right price.

The result is Rainbow Kids - a range of three dolls named Khana, Pula and Nandi.

Toys with Roots is a company whose purpose was to create a destination platform for toys and things that intentionally and beautifully celebrate African children. “We believe that our children need to see themselves and their greatness in the songs they sing, books they read, toys they engage with, and media they consume. It is through play that they can best learn, and form these important concepts about themselves and their world,” her website says.

The range also boasts an assortment of dolls and also books, beautifully written and illustrated in various languages. The stories centre around African children and what is familiar to them, always with an educational element.

Toys with Roots has most recently released its first children’s music album, Songs with Lali. It consists of 27 songs: 15 have lyrics children can sing, while 12 are instrumentals. They are especially great for school concerts, and also for kids to create and add their own lyrics. The CD has lyrics that older children can read, but the music is also available on most digital music platforms.