Case Study: !Xaus Lodge
Period: 2008 – 2017
R2,980,000 – !Xaus Lodge Micro Enterprise Development spend
R2,190,00 – Bushman Crafters
Group of 12/16 who manufactured crafts, wood-burning of images on headboards and mirror surrounds and supply crafts for sale to guests
R 180,000 – Themba Masala, Raaswater
The Paper Craft & Design Studio makes papier-mâché and wood crafts manufactured as décor and sale to guests
R120,000 – Vezokuhle – Upington
Group of six local women who manufactured wall hanging, bed-comforters and cushions for the lodge as well as products for sale to guests
R 440,000 – Viljoen’s Carpentry – Upington
Employed 20 additional staff from the local community to produce handmade furniture for the lodge
R50,000 – Oryx Salt
Give-back contribution from sale of salt, mined in the area
San/Bushmen Crafters: Spend – R2,190,000
Originating from the remote rural areas of Welkom-Hatebeest and Andriesvale, where extreme levels of unemployment prevail, the Bushmen Crafters use their indigenous knowledge and ancient skills in order to produce crafts that will earn them a living in a modern economy but their access to a market is limited. !Xaus Lodge fills this gap by providing these crafters a number of opportunities to enable them to use their skills to make a living in the modern economy. The Lodge offers accommodation, food and a place of work so that crafters are on site to sell their goods to Lodge visitors. The crafters are able to retain 100% of the income from the sake of their goods. In addition, the Lodge employs crafters to decorate the Lodge furniture with their iconic burnings, and assists with logistics to sell their craft beyond the Kalahari. In this way they sell goods to the Origins Museum in Johannesburg, and to Sani Lodge in the Drakensberg.
Temba Masala – Raaswater Paper Craft: Spend – R180,000
In the rural village of Raaswater, 16km from Upington in the Northern Cape, lives Themba Masala, a skilled papier-mâché engineer, crafter and painter. In 2002 he started his own craft enterprise, Raaswater Paper Craft and Design. His business struggled for the first few years but, after a combination of an 18 month mentorship with the director of Craft South Africa and the opening of !Xaus Lodge, the market for his product began to expand. He now employs 20 people and supplies a number of retail outlets in South Africa, while also exporting to France, Switzerland and Germany. While he may employ 20 people, the space in which they work only has a capacity to hold eight with the rest forced to work outside. There is enough land in Raaswater on which Masala can build his workshop and, while he has enough money to buy the land, building a factory with the necessary machinery is beyond his means. If Raaswater Paper Craft and Design is to continue production and keep up with the demands from local and international clients, it urgently needs funding to build a factory, which will additionally allow Masala to employ more people. Temba’s artistic talent, his wife Nombulelo’s administrative skills and their commitment to creating rural employment make for a business that TFPD is proud to support and promote.