One of the most frequent questions I encounter when I tell someone about the work that we do, is, “What types of businesses do your entrepreneurs run?” Consequently, I compiled a fairly comprehensive list of the types of businesses we have worked with over the past year : ) There is certainly no shortage of creativity amongst our entrepreneurs…!

Selling/renting out children’s costumes

Selling custom promotional clothing

Exporting clothes to Zimbabwe

Running an internet café

Sewing handbags and tablecloths

Tailoring clothes

Designing clothes

Making curtains

Selling handbags/knick-knacks on the side of the road

Designing and creating greeting cards (and other products) from recycled paper

Selling perfume and make-up

Selling airtime for a public phone

Baking scones

Catering

Making jewelry

Selling second-hand clothes

Selling pap (traditional African food)

Selling chickens

Exporting clothes to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

Designing computer graphics

Crafting bead-work souvenirs

Styling hair

Doing construction projects

Owning a tuck shop/spaza shop*

Owning a crèche (providing childcare services)

Providing administrative services (typing, printing etc.)

Providing skills training services

Exporting batteries to Zimbabwe

Welding metal services

Landscaping

*A tuck shop or spaza shop is somewhat similar to a community convenience store. A shop owner will sell items like food (bread, soup etc.) in addition to personal items (such as hair products, deodorant etc.). The physical appearance of the shop depends on the community they’re serving. A shop can be as simple as a table outside one’s house, selling random candy and parafin wax, such as our entrepreneur Joseph in Zandspruit. Or it can be as sophisticated an entire room in one’s house fully stocked with everyday essentials and a window that acts as a sort of “drive through” (or rather “walk through”), such as Rose in Cosmo City. This is a very common type of business in townships and informal settlements, where the nearest traditional store may be several kilometers away.

As the Johannesburg Training Manager for Paradigm Shift, a large part of my job is helping to train local volunteers to serve as Business Trainers within our program. Business Trainers facilitate all of our business training materials for our entrepreneurs, including: the Business Experience Course, the Business Growth Course, and the Business Advancement Course. Our Business Trainers are all business professionals with a wide range of business experience and an incredible heart to serve the poor entrepreneurs of Johannesburg. It has been such a blessing to work with them and to play a part in this ministry.

Starting this month, I am sending out a monthly publication called, Business Trainer Times. The purpose of this newsletter is to help the trainers feel connected to one another, to suggest facilitation tips and to serve as a reminder of why we do what we do.

Below you will find the first issue of the Business Trainer Times : ) Click on the image to read the newletter!

This week I wanted to share with you the lyrics to one of my favorite songs! Solution (written and sung by Hillsong) is an incredibly powerful song that outlines our call to help those in need, through Jesus Christ. Click here to play the song: 10 Solution 1

It is not a human right to stare not fight
While broken nations dream
Open up our eyes, so blind
That we might find the Mercy for the need

(Pre-Chorus)

Singing, hey now. Fill our hearts with your compassion.
Hey now, as we hold to our confession. Yeah

It is not too far a cry, too much to try
To help the least of these
Politics will not decide if we should rise
And be your hands and feet

(Pre-Chorus)

(Chorus)
Woah-oh-oh, God be the solution
Woah-oh-oh, We will be Your hands and be Your feet.
Yeah, yeah

Higher than a circumstance, your promise stands,
Your love for all to see
Higher than protest line and dollar signs, Your love is all we need

(Pre-Chorus)

(Chorus)

Only You can mend the broken heart, and cause the blind to see
Erase complete the sinners past, and set the captives free
Only You can take the widows cry, and cause her heart to sing
Be a Father to the fatherless; Our Savior and our King

(Bridge)

We will be Your hands, we will be Your feet
We will run this race for the least of these
In the darkest place, we will be Your light
We will be Your light

(x2)

(Chorus x2)

(Bridge)

If the music link doesn’t work, here’s a YouTube video of Hillsong performing Solution.

Tammy and me posing with the "Botswana Society" sign

One of the best parts about living and working in South Africa is having the opportunity to visit other southern African nations. I absolutely LOVE to travel and experience new cultures, so it has been such a blessing to be able to spend time exploring this new and different continent : )

This past weekend my roommate and I, along with our friends Dave and Greg, made the 5 hour trek to the capital of Botswana, Gaborone (pronounced Haa-Bore-Own-Eh by the locals). Botswana is an interesting study of a post-colonial sub-Saharan African country. Earning its independence from the British in 1966, Botswana has been one of the most stable (and least corrupt) countries in all of Africa. According to the U.S. State Department, since gaining its independence, Botswana has had one of the fastest growth rates in per capita income in the world. I don’t want to give you the wrong impression…Gaborone is a fairly small town, and there were probably only half a dozen buildings with more than four floors… However, there did seem to be an encouraging level of equality amongst the residents of Botswana–as opposed to the vast disparities we experience here in South Africa.

Overall, we found the people to be WONDERFULLY hospitable and we thoroughly enjoyed our leisurely weekend in Gaborone! …now I just can’t wait for my next adventure!!

Greg and me preparing to eat a southern African delicacy...mopani worms!