All About Vuk Zenzele

Vuk Zenzele is our non-profit that helps South African entrepreneurs

Vuk Zenzele is our non-profit program that offers microfinance loans at 0% interest to small entrepreneurs in Cape Town, South Africa. We also provide training and mentorship to the selected participants. The types of entrepreneurs that we focus on are those who sell goods or services locally, on a small scale. For example, we have participants who have clothing vending or a fried chicken business that sells on the side of the road, in a parking lot or an outdoor market stall.

Who do we help?

These are very small businesses where a little bit of capital can really change their business and potentially their lives. Currently, 1 US Dollar is about 19 South African Rand. This means that 4750 SA Rand (the most we’ve awarded to a participant thus far) is only about $250 USD. That money goes a lot further in South Africa than it would in the United States.

These business use our funding to upgrade equipment, such as burners for cooking, or to add more inventory for clothing. These upgrades, to them, might mean the difference between having a struggling business and being able to fully support their families.

Why this is necessary

You might wonder why they dont they find another job, if their businesses are struggling so much? Well, the job market in South Africa is in terrible shape.

According to AP News, “nearly 42% of South Africa’s working-age population is unemployed. South Africa has the highest unemployment rate in the world, according to the World Bank, outstripping Gaza and the West Bank, Djibouti and Kosovo”.

How are we doing this:

Of course, we can’t do all of this from the US, so we have a highly skilled team composed of both South Africans and Europeans managing Vuk Zenzele from the front lines.

**Peter Kraan**

Peter is our current CFO. His experience as the Former CFO of TSIBA – a non profit business school that helps students from disadvantaged backgrounds get a degree in business – has been instrumental in realizing Vuk Zenzele’s mission. Before his retirement, Peter worked for 14 years as an entrepreneur in Europe and the Americas, helping technology companies scale and grow their market share worldwide. Prior to that, he worked in Switzerland and the United States for companies such as Prognos, Novartis and Bell. Peter is originally from the Netherlands and holds a Master’s degree in Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy from the University of Basel in Switzerland. Now that Peter is retired, his time is focused on helping small and medium sized businesses, as well as his five grandchildren.

**MC Mgobozi**

MC is one of our directors and mentors. He is also in charge of operations and is very hands-on with our participants. He owns a tourism business that shows the real side of South Africa and helps to support his local community. He is involved in a number of social initiatives that also help his community in South Africa.

**Yolanda Matala**

Yolanda is our project manager. She graduated from TSIBA with a degree in business administration, with a focus on marketing. She works directly with the participants while helping with mentoring and accountability. Yolanda is also an admin at ProteamSA. In the past, Yolanda has had her own small business ventures. She is very passionate at mentoring high school girls and being a role model to young women.

And though not technically part of our team, we couldn’t have done any of this without the support of TSIBA, which supports us by providing a meeting space where Vuk Zenzele can host training sessions for our participants.

Result: Nandipha’s story

Our Participant Nandipha had a nail business for 4 years before starting at Vuk Zenzele. When she applied to our program to get funding for Nandi’s Nail Bar, she dreamed of working in a big space, where she could do her nail art, but also make up and the selling of perfumes. We decided to help her narrow down her strength and focus on her nail art, which is what our loan helped her expand. She may not have her own business location yet, but does house calls which is very accessible to her clients.

We gave Nandipha a microfinance loan for $86 worth of stock and equipment – which made a huge difference in her business. Vuk Zenzele’s microfinancing program allowed her to purchase everything she needed to delight her customers with more professional looking custom nail art.