For many years, Stellenbosch locals knew 7 Victoria Street as a clinic, but from January 2020, the space will be renovated to make way for a new entrepreneurial hub.
The project, which is spearheaded by Stellenbosch-based nonprofit organisation Ranyaka, is set to create an affordable co-working and networking space for local entrepreneurs.
The Ranyaka team hosted open days on 17 and 18 October for locals to see the plan and to also give feedback about the project. During the open days, the team also asked community members to share their memories of the soon-to-be converted clinic.
Wall of remembrance: Ranyaka’s Marli Goussard reads out some of the messages community members wrote about their experience of the old clinic. Notes included: “I got the pill from here”, “‘the last time I was here I was a baby, I’m so happy this building will do something” and “got my first HIV test with my mom here”. PHOTO: Sethu Mbuli
According to Marli Goussard, Ranyaka’s enterprise development and collaboration manager, the hub is based on a rental model where entrepreneurs can rent out spaces per hour. “We want to work with established entrepreneurs that just don’t have access to market or a place they can work from, because rent in Stellenbosch is ridiculous,” Goussard notes.
The team is currently working with 15 local entrepreneurs for the planned hub. “We facilitate collaboration among multiple people that work [in Stellenbosch], but who are not connecting with each other,” Goussard adds.
“This is where people can dream”: The entrepreneurial space will boast rooms where local business people will book them per hour, which includes this room that will be for a salon/barber. PHOTO: Sethu Mbuli
Johan Olivier and William Bila founded Ranyaka in 2013. Both men are urban planners who worked together at the City of Johannesburg, but later wanted to start an organisation that would positively impact South African communities. The organisation is currently in eight towns and 12 communities across the country.
Olivier notes that they are working with entrepreneurs in Stellenbosch that are at different stages of their journey. “Some entrepreneurs will really shoot up the lights,” he says, adding that his team also needs to focus on micro-community entrepreneurs who keep the local economy busy but are sometimes under the radar.
Connecting communities: the Ranyaka team says the entrepreneurial hub is part of a bigger plan to connect local entrepreneurs to resources and people who can help up skill them. PHOTO: Sethu Mbuli
Kayamandi community worker Paul Khambule (41) attended the open day, noting that the 7 Victoria street building is ideally situated, with its proximity to students and the mall, “business is not charity, the space will enable many opportunities. But the entrepreneur need to identify with the space.”
Alexandra (31) and her husband Odwa Nomavuka (31) own Kayamandi based eatery AmaZink, as well as local coffee shop ‘Chalk’. The pair were also at the open day, selling coffee to attendees on the day. Alexandra says her work in Kayamandi for the last nine years has exposed her to a lot of talent in the township.
She further notes that outsiders often think they can come into a township and fix it, “but what Ranyaka does is identify strengths and build bridges for [local entrepreneurs] to reach their full potential. From my [point of view], if we could all just share the resources and the platforms we have been given, as they are doing with this entrepreneurial hub, with people who simply need a leg up verses hand-outs, poverty would be phased out.”
To find out more about the entrepreneurial hub, visit: https://ranyaka.co.za/entrepreneurship-hub/