WATCH: Africa Accent’s growth benefits the community

African Accent has evolved from being a clothing brand to being a one-stop-shop acting as a support base for local spaza shops around Kathorus.

African Accent is a black-owned business based in Katlehong. They offer branded clothes and also serve as a salon and spaza shop.

They conduct a delivery service to other spazas using bicycles. They also support spaza shops through bulk buying, which helps spaza owners to obtain good price offers for products.

The business was initiated 12 years ago when Bongani Mabuza and Sibongile Mothlasedi started a clothing brand focused on printing T-shirts.

Mabuza said as the brand was penetrating the local market in communities, it became a beacon of hope as it started creating opportunities for other people as well.

“It became more than just a brand, as it is a celebration of our Africanness. That is how African Accent came about” he said.

The business is also involved in community empowerment by hosting sports tournament, donating to disadvantaged families and creating job opportunities.

The service of bicycle deliveries was launched to assist senior citizens, especially during the pandemic.

“Last year when the pandemic hit, we wanted to help people who were struggling financially. So we started a campaign called the spaza shop challenge, where we would raise funds for food hampers and identify a deserving family in the community.

“We were able to at least help 200 families with face marks and food hampers,” said Mabuza.

He said they had to brainstorm new ideas after they realised that senior citizens were not benefiting from this initiative.

“There were grannies who could not access this opportunity because of the hard lockdown. We then thought, how about we deliver these products to them”

“To do so we needed bicycles. So we started asking for bicycle donations. One of my friends, Mavana, donated the first bicycle,” he said.

The delivery service started with that first bicycle, as they delivered various products including sweets and energy drinks.

WATCH: The founder of African Accent explain how they started the bicycle delivery service.

Mabuza said soon they started including local brands.

“For every bicycle we bought, we created a job. We started with one bicycle, currently, we have a fleet of 20 bicycles.

“Some people employed by us have now started their businesses by using our business model. We have guys who use to sell in spaza shops who now own spaza shops.

“We have helped a lot of guys who had zero experience by training them how to sell.

“Some were unable to ride a bicycle. We were patient with them and we trained them in the basics of entrepreneurial skills,” said Mabuza.

He said they have grown to include other modes of transport to enable them to reach other areas.

“We have introduced a bakkie and are in the process of trying to get a scooter. We have become more like a distribution centre of local and international brands to spaza shops.”

As a spaza shop owner, Mabuza observed the challenges that spaza shop owners had in terms of stocking products.

“With our experience, we realised that when you buy in bulk you can save. We then distribute so that we all sharing the cost. We buy at a reasonable price for the benefit of all local businesses.”

Contact African Accent on 072 517 0829.