EXPORT
Bumbo: Johan Buitendach
Local grandfather takes export world by storm

When Johan Buitendach’s daughter Antoinette left her seven-week old son with him to baby sit, he couldn’t help but notice that Daniel wanted to be upright so he could see what was going on around him. After trying to prop him up on pillows, Buitendach set to work to create a seat that could hold his grandson. The result was the Bumbo Baby Sitter.
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EXPORT
Keedo: Nelia Schutte
Keedo began as a home industry and is now an international exporter of exclusive children’s clothes  

“Sometimes entrepreneurs need a wakeup call to force them to follow their dream to own a business.” These are the words of Nelia Schutte, founder and owner of Keedo clothing, a now international children’s clothing label that exports to countries all over the world, including Switzerland, the US, the UK, Taiwan, Australia, the Netherlands and Dubai.
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EXPORT
Streetwires: Patrick Schofield
A social development business with its feet planted firmly in the commercial world takes the craft export industry by storm     

Streetwires, started in 2000 by Patrick Schofield, Winston Rangwani and Anthony Ressel, is that most unusual combination of a highly profitable commercial organisation with a social development core. It is built on the four cornerstones of job creation, craft innovation, sound business practices and human capital development.
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EXPORT
Tsonga Shoes: Peter & Adrian Maree
Handmade African footwear with soul breaks into difficult export market

When father and son team Peter and Adrian Maree launched the Tsonga shoe brand in 1999, they already knew that the South African market was about to experience a massive influx of products from India and China. Through their long-established company, Corrida Shoes, they already had a secure stake in the local shoe market and instead of worrying about what cheap mass-manufactured Chinese and Indian products would mean for their business, they identified gaps and new opportunities – this time beyond our borders.
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IMPORT
Ethereal: Claire Smith
Ethereal might be the name of her company, but Claire Smith has enjoyed concrete successes in the importing arena

Claire Smith and her company, Ethereal, have come a long way since she first stuffed her suitcases full of goods from India and started selling them off her dining room table to friends. Today she runs a thriving lifestyle décor and design business with the Foschini group, Weylandts and Loads of Living among her clients. But the journey between those early start-up days and the present has been long and hard.
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