Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Keeping the cash in Khayelitsha
Local investment group aims to create long-term wealth in the area
EXCITING plans to sustain the burgeoning economy of Khayelitsha’s 2.4 million residents – where disposable income, according to research done by the University of Stellenbosch, was at R9 billion in 2013 – have been revealed by a local 34-year-old “visionary”.
For the past two years Luvuyo Jongile, founder and chief executive of Ikamva Investment Holdings, has, together with 49 other “young professionals with ties in Khayelitsha or who still live in the area”, been investing R1 000 a month with an investment management company.
The group aims to venture into a number of business interests.
Ikamva now has more than R800 000 cash capital, and will continue to invest for the next three years before laying any foundations.
The group launched its investment model last year, when Jongile outlined members’ 30-year plan for Khayelitsha.
This included the “creation of long-term wealth by preserving the disposal income of the township economy”.
Jongile says he and his partners “want to create long-term wealth, starting in Khayelitsha”.
Jongile, who is also a fulltime marketing manager, says the primary focus of the business is to “educate young professionals about how to build and grow their own businesses while also connecting them with relevant industry giants”.
He says: “We want to host network sessions around the city in fields such as property, oil and gas, farming, logistics and telecommunications to help young black people get the opportunity to meet the right people, give them the boost they need and ultimately get the boost they need to get to the next level of their businesses.”
The young father is originally from Lady Frere in Eastern Cape, and arrived in Cape Town to live in Khayelitsha in the 1980s. Though he has since moved to Brackenfell, he still has his “roots firmly placed in Khayelitsha”.
His primary concern about the township is high unemploy- ment and high levels of alcohol consumption among the youth, along with the scarcity of houses and opportunities to own property.
Jongile, who is also founder of the new local gin, Mayine, says the group has a five to eight-year plan to “penetrate the gap housing market in Khayelitsha”.
“Many of us young black professionals are pushed aside in the property sector. We can’t afford houses, we don’t have land and we are in debt.”
Though they have not yet put anything on paper, “we are currently in partnership with the local department of human settlements, we are engaging with the city of Cape Town and will soon involve the national department of human settlements to find out who owns which plot of land in the area and what form of partnership we can embark on”.
Jongile says there are three prime plots in Khayelitsha ideal for their gap housing plans, but “we are yet to go through the processes”.
The group aims to provide at least 500 housing opportunities before venturing into other sectors.
“The plan is to ultimately have our own black- owned bank. Currently the stokvel market is worth R70m. It is among black people where is this money is circulating.
“We need to keep these funds in townships and generate more wealth for our people for as long as possible. Currently many black people are living from hand to mouth and we have to find a way to help financially rehabilitate people.
“Ikamva also intends building estates in the township, along with gap houses to cater for those who earn too little to qualify for a bond, but too much to qualify for a government subsidy. Ikamva has aspirations to buy gas stations and build schools. The company also wants to buy franchise businesses focusing on retail, and aims to bring Uber to Khayelitsha.”
Housing has been a burning issue in the city for some time,
‘Many of us
with groups such as Reclaim the City invading vacant government-owned buildings and sites around the city.
In July this year, Brett Herron, the mayoral committee member for transport and urban development, announced 10 sites to be developed for affordable housing in and around the city.
At the time, Herron said these sites had been selected to reverse apartheid spatial planning. The sites are in the city centre and in the inner-city suburbs of Woodstock and Salt River.
Three have already been earmarked for social housing.
Two developments in Woodstock will provide about 240 residential units for rent to households which earn an income of less than R15 000 a month.
afford houses’