27-year-old Ofentse Pitse has set the bar in more ways than one with her groundbreaking orchestra, Anchored Sound.
Not only is Pitse the only conductor of an all-black orchestra, but the young black female owns the musical group as well.
SowetanLIVE reported that Anchored Sound is the first of its kind in the world and it’s heartwarming to note that it is the brainchild of a young South African woman.
Pitse has music flowing in her genes as her late grandfather, Otto Pitse, was known as a great trumpeter and orchestra conductor as well. Perhaps she was therefore destined for musical greatness, but the fact that she’s achieved so much without a formal qualification in music, still takes some doing.
Pitse shared some insight as to what it takes to become an orchestra conductor. She said,
“You have to walk in there with a certain kind of reverence and confidence.”
Pitse explained that part of the challenge is that she needs to lead people who almost expect to see an elderly male leading them during performances.
Briefly.co.za gathered that much of her success in the industry is due to the role played by her mentors Thami Zungu and Gerben Grooten, after she called on them for guidance.
Pitse has been slowly forming her ensemble since 2017 as she handpicked youngsters from Tembisa, Soweto, Pretoria and Katlehong. Thanks to her forward-thinking, talent and determination, the group grew from only eight members to a 40-piece symphony orchestra.
Pitse revealed her passion for empowering black youth as she said, “I’m a believer in the black narrative and a believer in the black child.” Anchored Sound is living proof of this, as all proceeds from performances are used to directly assist its members.
The Duke of Sussex Prince Harry just proved that he is a doting son after he decided to open a health center after the name of his late mother Princess Diana. The 35-year-old arrived in South Africa with his wife Meghan Markle and their 4-month-old son Archie for the first day of their official 10-day tour.
According to the outlet, the Duke will also make the special visit on Friday to reopen it after it was named in her honor following a revamp. “This is all about wanting to fulfill his mother’s legacy,” a source close to the palace told the outlet, reported by Fox News.
“This tour will see the Duke and Duchess go back to basics, using their profile in the right way to highlight causes they are both passionate about.” “In a particularly significant and poignant journey, the Duke of Sussex will have the opportunity to return to Angola to see first-hand the legacy of his mother the late Diana,
Princess of Wales, whose visit to Huambo in 1997 helped raise awareness of the threat posed by land mines to communities and livelihoods,” added Harry’s private secretary Samantha Cohen.
She created the brand Yhebe. 3 years later, Beyonce wore one of her designs.
Her name is Rebecca Zoro. She is a designer from Ivory Coast. In 2015, she created the brand Yhebe. 3 years later, Beyonce wore one of her designs. Rebecca was over the moon.
Beyoncé wearing the Adjoua skirt Photo courtesy of Beyoncé /@Beyonce/ www.beyonce.com
Beginnings
Rebecca was born and raised in Ivory Coast. She had a deep fascination with clothing from childhood. In 2009, she decided to take a training course in making clothes. She earned a diploma and left Ivory Coast for Morocco where she enrolled at LaSalle Collège to study fashion design.
Yhebe Design
Rebecca returned to Abidjan, Ivory Coast, after completing school in Morocco. She wanted to start her own clothing brand. She settled on “Yhebe”, an endearing name that her grandfather used to call her father when he was a child. She started small business initially sawing by herself with one sewing machine. The brand grew with time and now has an online presence and an online shop.
The brand represents romanticism, love, and sensitivity. This vision is included in the muse and emblem of the brand: the rose.
Yhebe’s aesthetics originate from the 1920s and include a lot of straight cuts and feminine, geometric lines that are softened by fluid and delicate fabrics. The brand does not shy away from its Africanness either, with models’ faces often painted in traditional African markings. The designs and fabrics are also inspired by African culture, especially Gouro culture which Rebecca is part of.
“The idea behind Yhebe is to highlight the African woman, the Ivorian woman.”
Yhebe Designs
Yhebe Designs
Yhebe Designs
Yhebe Designs
Beyonce
In December 2018, Beyonce attended and headlined the Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 in Johannesburg, South Africa. She wore clothing by African designers for the trip to highlight the African fashion industry. One of the famous looks from the trip is the Adjoua skirt she wore by Yhebe Designs.
Beyoncé wearing the Adjoua skirt Photo courtesy of Beyoncé /@Beyonce/ www.beyonce.com
“Beyonce wore a piece of clothing I made!” Exclaimed Rebecca in an interview with BBC Africa. “I still can’t believe it.”
Beyonce’s photos are now part of the online shop’s catalogue. When you go to buy the Adjoua skirt on Yhebe’s online shop, it is Beyonce’s photo you see.
The rate of sexual violence in South Africa is said to be among the highest in the world. Recently, a 31-year-old was kidnapped and shot dead in a Nature Reserve, while a 21-year-old nursing student was abducted outside a hospital and raped. These led to the Twitter movement #AmINext, which had women asking if they would become the next victim of murder.
With the #WithoutUs protest, the women are sitting in their homes, refusing to go to work, to school, or even participate in the economy. They say no woman on the streets of South Africa, on Wednesday, September 11, will be found buying or selling anything.
Some women have however said that while they support the protest, they have to go to their places of work, else they’ll lose their jobs. So they’re wearing black in solidarity.
Hopefully, the voice of Women South Africa are heard and the protest yields a positive result.
Following the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in South Africa, more than 300 Nigerians have reportedly registered for evacuation from the country.
This is coming following the approval by the Federal Government that any Nigerian that is willing to return home should indicate interest.
According to Punch, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ferdinand Nwonye, on Friday, September 6, 2019, disclosed that over 300 Nigerians had registered for the exercise, adding that the time and date of departure would be announced later.
In an interview with the Newspaper, Nwonye said, “They are collating the names and as at the last one hour (3.50pm), they have registered like 300 persons and the meeting of the special envoy is ongoing, the high commissioner is there with him.”
Recall that in the heat of the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians and retaliatory attacks on South African businesses in Nigeria, Nwonye on Wednesday, September 4, 2019, announced that Air Peace offered free flights to Nigerians who are willing to return home from the former apartheid country.
He said in a statement, “The ministry wishes to inform the general public that following the recent unfortunate xenophobic attacks on foreign nationals, including Nigerians in South Africa, the proprietor of Air Peace Airlines, Chief Allen Onyema, has volunteered to send a plane from September 6 to evacuate Nigerians who wish to return to Nigeria free of charge.
“The general public is hereby advised to inform their relatives in South Africa to take advantage of this laudable gesture.”
The recent xenophobic attacks on Nigerians and their business in South Africa started on Sunday, September 1, 2019.
According to the South African Police, five people were killed in the attacks as South African mobs launched attacks on foreigners, including Nigerians, and looted and burnt their places of business in suburbs of Johannesburg and surrounding areas.
Due to the violent attacks on Nigerians, the Federal Government of Nigeria on Wednesday, September 4, 2019, withdrew its participation from the World Economic Forum holding in South Africa.
Nigeria also recalled its Ambassador to South Africa, Ambassador Kabiru Bala, in protest of xenophobic attacks on its nationals in the country.
Tiwa has cancelled her performance at the upcoming DStv Delicious Festival in Johannesburg on the 21st of September.
Sending her prayers to victims on her Twitter handle, she wrote:
I refuse to watch the barbaric butchering of my people in SA. This is SICK. For this reason I will NOT be performing at the upcoming DSTV delicious Festival in Johannesburg on the 21st of September. My prayers are with all the victims and families affected by this.
South African designer Palesa Mokubung is the first African designer to collaborate with the fashion giant H&M. The Swedish retailer joined forces with Mantsho, Mokubung’s label, to create a collection celebrating the elegance and vibrancy of Africa.
Mokubung’s career began in 2000 when she walked into a boutique in Johannesburg – Stoned Cherrie – and her outfit caught the boutique’s owner’s eye. The outfit was designed by Mokubung herself. She was immediately employed. In 2004, she launched her brand called Mantsho. Her goal was to create a fashion brand that would represent South Africa and Africa globally.
On August 15th, Mantsho’s collaboration collection with H&M launched. The collection consists of women’s clothes and accessories with a distinct African feel. It is available online and in H&M stores in the UK, France, Israel, Spain, and Belgium.
“Mantsho x H&M is an exciting collection celebrating the elegance and vibrancy of Africa with modern edgy designs created for the stylish carefree woman,” reads a statement jointly released by H&M and Mantsho.
Mokubung has referred to the collection as her “love letter to Africa”.
“I hope customers around the world will enjoy this ensemble of my stand out pieces from my last three collections,” she said in a statement.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Mokubung said, “I really wanted to have a label that could remind me – that could remind everyone in case somebody wanted us to forget – how beautiful we are just because we are. Just because we exist. I wanted to have that attitude of unapologetic black, proud, stern, confident in the way that I design, in the way that I work, in the way that I approach the women that I saw, in the way I run my business, the way that I present myself, in the way that I am accepted. That message is very important to my soul—it is fire to my soul.”
Mokubung hopes that more African women will follow their dreams dreams
H&M has previously collaborated with Italian designer Moschino and French luxury house, Balmain.
Caster Semenya isn’t new to her gender being questioned and used against her. The athlete recently shared that even as youngster she had to sometimes prove she was a woman as her teammates struggled to compete against her. “They started questioning, are you really a girl? One day, I walked naked into the change room [to prove to them],” Semenya was quoted as saying by The Sowetan.
The athlete was speaking at the Standard Bank Top Women Conference held at Emperors Palace in Kempton Park in Johannesburg.
The athlete, who also revealed she used to be a soccer player, shared some of the reasons she is as strong and fast as she is. She said she grew up with boys and walked long distances to school. She added that she used to train on sand.
“I think my parents raised me well,” Semenya said. “They have never questioned what I do, my feelings, how I see life. They accepted me for who I am. They could see that this one was a little bit different. I did not like being in the kitchen, but being in the garden. I just wanted to give you background why I am tough, why am I fearless, why I do not care about what other people think about me.”
The Court of Arbitration for Sport recently ruled against Semenya in her case against the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) forcing female athletes to regulate their testosterone levels.
Semenya, always resilient, was quoted in May of this year as saying after the ruling: “For a decade the IAAF has tried to slow me down. But this has actually made me stronger. The decision of the CAS will not hold me back. I will once again rise above and continue to inspire young women and athletes in South Africa and around the world.”
Mandisa Mfeka is the world’s first Black African female fighter pilot and she is from South Africa.
Major Mandisa Nomcebo Mfeka, a Combat Pilot in the South African Air Force.
She is regarded as the world’s first Black African female fighter pilot and hails from South Africa!
Mandisa, who was born in Ntuzuma Kwazulu-Natal grew up in Malvern. She says she realised her love for aviation when she was about five years old when her mother and grandmother used to take them to airshows in Virginia Airport.
Due to the inability to afford the entry fee, Mandisa says her mom would park outside the airport and they would watch the displays from there.
Growing up she thought she wanted to be a doctor but when she was in grade 10, she started researching careers that used math and science. As a result, she discovered aeronautical engineering. She decided to apply to different universities to study exactly that but she came across an article for the South African Air Force and after seeing that she exceeded the requirements of entry, plus she could become a pilot, she was immediately sold.
“From the moment I discovered the SAAF, I knew that’s what I wanted to do, and since then I haven’t looked back.”
In 2008 she joined the South African Air force (SAAF), and in 2010 she started at the Central Flying School in Langebaan; in 2011 she got her wings.
Mandisa says her journey as a Combat Pilot really shifted her perspective about what aviation and what being a military practitioner looked like. Nonetheless, she believes that becoming a combat pilot has been an amazing experience.
“It is such a dynamic environment and so mentally stimulating, and I love it because I’m growing in my technical expertise and learning more about aerodynamics.”
One quote that Mandisa lives by is, “The sky is the baseline.” Which means, the excellence bar that you pushed yesterday should be your starting point, tomorrow.
At the age of 33, Nthabeleng Likotsi is the executive chairperson of the Young Women in Business Network (YWBN), which she and nine other board members started in 2009. The company, managed by women from different professions and industries, is connected by one goal: to provide economic empowerment for all female professionals and entrepreneurs.
On the formation of YWBN, Likotsi said, “I asked myself what it meant to be a black young woman in South Africa. And the truth of the matter was that not much is happening for black women,” she said.
She did research and found that stokvels (community-based informal saving groups) contributed billions to the economy yet had no way of harnessing this financial power. Likotsi saw that these groups could be elevated into the investment space, if they were given the opportunity and support, and so could become a much-needed resource for many households across the country.
This gives an insight into Likotsi’s overarching goal: to create black wealth. She realised that this could only be achieved through a bank that understood and was dedicated to a black entrepreneurial clientele. This led to the formation of a YWBN cooperative financial institution, which currently has 420 shareholders from age 16 to 75 and has collectively generated R4,2 million in investment.
In the past year, and as the chairperson of the YWBN Co-operative Bank, Likotsi has furthered the cause by working to meet South African Reserve Bank requirements in order to propel YWBN from being a cooperative to a mutual bank. On Friday, 15 June 2018, she and veterans of the 1956 Women’s March trooped from the Union Buildings to the South African Reserve Bank to submit their application.View image on Twitter
We can’t register the first Women Owned Bank in South Africa and not have a courtesy visit to the Governor of South African Reserve Bank (SARB)Mr. Lesetja Kganyago and the Registrar of Banks Mr. Kuben Naidoo
On the march, Likotsi told Huffington Post that they were taking a public stance against the lack of access for black women in the financial sector.
“There is a lot of preparation that goes into getting a licence to run a mutual bank. The requirement is that you should have between R10 million to R15 million, just for the application – excluding the capital expenditure and operational costs, among others,” she said.
“Our theme is built around the women of 1956, who fought for political freedom. We can’t expect them to still fight for us. They are handing over the baton to us, the younger generation.”
She also stated that she is confident that the YWBN Mutual Bank will be fully operational in 2019. “There is no space for negativity. We will not fail.”
To understand why Likotsi sees potential where many others have not, it is important to understand the market she seeks to tap into and represent.
Stokvels are about “the power of a collective”. This collective comes together to pool money for a common aim, thus mobilising like-minded individuals towards achieving financial and social goals. Historically these short-term to medium-term goals included debt repayment (43%), emergency savings (44%), education (25%), groceries (31%), clothing (18%) and other (16%), according to the 2017 Old Mutual Savings and Investment Monitor.
However, stokvels have evolved: According to National Treasury Economist Olano Makhubela, 60% of stokvels are investment-driven, while 18% are investment clubs. Furthermore, stokvels are popular even with high income earners: 42% of households with incomes of R40 000 and above belong to one or more stokvels, according to the same Old Mutual survey.
With these investment groups going into areas such as property and equity, the financial sector cannot underestimate this growing informal sector but would have to find avenues to service it differently from traditional formal investments.
With these investment groups going into areas such as property and equity, the financial sector cannot underestimate this growing informal sector.
Who is Nthabeleng Likotsi?
Born in Botshabelo, Free State province into a family of businesspeople, Likotsi gained her leadership and community service capabilities from her parents and siblings. This spirit is what bolstered her as she shunned a career in accounting to venture into business and change the country’s economic outlook. She has a Master’s Degree in Entrepreneurship from Wits Business School, a post-graduate Certificate in Accounting from the University of Johannesburg, and a Certificate in Entrepreneurship from the Centre of Entrepreneurship at Wits Business School.
Likotsi is recognised in the international business community and she was awarded the 2013/2014 Women Leadership Award at the third Africa-India Partnership Summit in 2013. She is also an independent non-executive director of various companies, such as Apex Valves and Ubuntu Plastics, among others.
