Patrick claims he was born "with a silver spoon in his mouth." He got a great education which he was puzzled what to do with. Post Apartheid he felt that most young people in South Africa were voting with "their heads rather than with their hearts." But he wanted to empower people to move towards middle class. He believed that by that empowerment of real ownership (something the black population had been denied up till then), votes will not be able to be bought and sold anymore which will enable black people to be in control of their own destiny. So he was looking for a way to allow black township people to earn enough money to educate the next generation who will then have more formal skills that will get them true entry into the South African middle class.
He was aware of the incredible rich cultural history of black South Africa, especially the artistic one that ran very deep. He decided to build onto the value of the previous generation's rich culture in order to employ the new generation. So he started out by employing 2 artisans to create his design studio for wire and beads sculptures. The culture they drew from is labeled "closer culture" which is attached existed within the cattle people had in the rural areas. They turned that into a form of craft that gave birth to its own present value. So StreetWire was formally created in 2001 by Patrick as a for profit company that will employ black township people. Today the company employs 60 men and 60 women with the men creating the shapes from the wires and the women doing the beading (40% of what they produce gets exported to EU counties) With the 120 to 160 Euros a month they earn, each one supports about 7 people back home. Every person gets nurtured in terms of their career in the company so the current management came from within from people that started working in production.
People work in groups with a group leader being in charge. The group leader acts like a head of family. This mimics the tribal social structure where the workers come from. The group sets up their own goals for production and they get paid commission for every piece they produce.
"social Entrepreneurship" is what Patrick calls his enterprise. His workers used not to even have a bank account. Now they manage their money and he is even setting up an employee trust of up to 25% of the employee's income to teach them how to save and invest. The studio space has become the safe haven for the workers from many problems they face at home. It is also a source of pride for holding a job in a society where unemployment is the rule and not the exception.
Nowadays they are also learning about competition. Some places around the country have started importing the same craft made in China... So they are all putting their head together to create new revenue stream. They have started working on customized pieces. Anyone can send a picture to their studio and have it made into a prototype that can be used then for custom mass production or to make a unique one-of-a-kind piece. They are also faced with the challenge of a fluctuating currency that happens to be unpredictable, so they do not always know if they can export their work profitably. However, Patrick is confident that he will eventually be able to make himself redundant and let his people run their own company. He sees his country moving forward and is proud to say that the poverty in their midst in nothing like that of neighboring countries like Zimbabwe. South Africa has become a destination for immigration from countries like that. His people are now no longer to be pitied...
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