Start-Up Retail Store The Box Shop Seeks To Become A Shopping Hub For African Wear
Start-Up Retail Store The Box Shop Seeks To Become A Shopping Hub For African Wear. The Box Shop SA is a lifestyle and retail initiative founded with a primary objective of solving access to market problems faced by Small to Medium Enterprises in the textile, accessories, cosmetics, furniture and crafts industries. The Box Shop SA offers a platform for young entrepreneurs to grow their businesses by reaching markets beyond their social influence and eventually positioning themselves in global markets.
Its purpose is to increase youth participation and contribute to the development of an inclusive South African Economy, and to increase the number of jobs and business opportunities for youth in urban/peri-urban communities. To improve the sustainability and competitiveness of young entrepreneurs in township economies by providing business development support services and linking young entrepreneurs to markets. The Box Shop employs an innovative approach to supporting emerging businesses by providing assistance to businesses along the value chain and linking them to each other to streamline and integrate activities. It co-ordinates and incubate businesses at all levels of a few selected value chains.
Sifiso Moyo, founder and CEO of lifestyle retail outlet, The Box Shop, says tourism services which are in demand within townships are shuttle services, tour operators, and of course, accommodation. “I don’t think there is enough of Airbnb’s here.” Moyo told SME South Africa. He also says that they hope that The Box Shop, which is based in townships is known as the go-to place to buy African wear. “If you look at Dubai, people go there to buy.”
The lifestyle and retail outlet he founded with his business partner, Bernard Msimango, is on Vilakazi Street, known for being the only street that has famously housed two Nobel Peace Prize winners, Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, in South Africa’s township of Soweto in Johannesburg.
“We need to position the street as a destination that is futuristic, cutting-edge and tourism-friendly, especially to the locals. So we are strategizing, decreasing our prices, marketing ourselves aggressively to the locals and addressing ourselves as a destination of choice.” Moyo told Forbes Africa.
