Business partners Lungi Sokhulu and Robin Broider have a vision that their fashion accessories will become an icon on the world stage — and they are realising that dream one small export order at a time.
Sokhulu is a talented, determined young woman hailing from the impoverished Gamalakhe township on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast.
Broider is an elderly white woman whose background is the virtual opposite of the one experienced by her business partner, yet their handbags, baskets and bowls are already raising eyebrows in international circles.
A qualified fashion designer, Sokhulu, together with her husband Dimitri, has developed processes by which to convert old newspapers and newsprint into fashion and décor items under the brand name Back2Life — and is using the concept to create employment in her home town of Gamalakhe, where jobs are sadly lacking, while also contributing to the environment.
Last year, Sokhulu won the KwaZulu-Natal regional finals of the SAB KickStart Entrepreneurial Development Programme, which focuses on bolstering sustainable enterprises to translate into job creation and poverty alleviation and has now attracted corporate interest for commissions to supply products. Read more.