The story of black business in South Africa remains underwritten. Dispossession of fertile or mineral-rich lands through colonial wars as well as the landmark 1913 Land Act are widely recognised as among the root causes of the economic precarity of black South Africans. But how racist policies and ordinances responded to black business initiatives with antagonism, expressly to maintain a cheap labour base for the economy, remains unexplored.
Against all odds, and through political mobilising and resistance, black South African men and women built successful enterprises in industries as diverse as agriculture, media, financial services, retail, real estate, transport, and hospitality. The book seeks to correct a historical stereotypes that assert that black people are only able to do business as ‘tenderpreneurs’.
Join GIBS Faculty, Dr Sizakele Marutlulle in conversation with Phakamisa Ndzamela author of Native Merchants: The Building of The Black Business Class in South Africa as he brings the stories of these remarkable and resilient people to the fore.
About the author:
Phakamisa Ndzamela is an award-winning former business journalist
for Thomson Reuters, E-News Africa, Moneyweb, Business
Day, Financial Mail and Financial Times of London. He holds an
honours degree in journalism from the University of Witwatersrand.
He lives in Cape Town.
Date: 14 October 2021
Time: 12:00 - 13:00
