ow for
Dlschoteque
e 2 merchants ho will
popul "the mall are a gallery
of upp Black busin p0-
tential. R idents of Lawaai-
m p, ome have built mall
busin empires in a commu­
nity that w in constant danger
of being bull-doaed ' to the
ground.
Mr. B e, for example,
tarted in 1984 with a rough-
hewn speakeasy called he-
been. Two later he
ted for opening Ii tiny unli-
oe house, but he bided his
time and aved the profit
Th -Inform I conomy· of South Africa I. e.tlm ted to mploy 3.5 million 81 ck • a q ... rt r
of the work forc . In Lawaalkamp, a. tt me of abo 4,000 81 c • n r orge, o�h
Africa, local .hop owner. will mov In October Into COny rt d hipping co a r to make
th M sakh n Mall.
Location, Too
With owne hip nd th in­
troduction of electricity and
flush toilets, Lawaaikamp i an
up ardly mobile hantytoWD,
with neat shacks, no violence,
and pirations.
And location. The ttlement
A Cat Iy t for Revlv I
The id of the MasakhaM
Man, th sponsors of the project
ay, is to how that by removing
the stifling constrain of apart.
heid and applying only mod
as i tance, thi improvi ed
ety where capitali m is a white
fraternity.
"The present Government
has made sure that Black people
do not have the capital to start
businesses," said Zolile Hugo, an
official of the Masakhanei Pro­
ject. And so La waaikamp aimed
low. .
earned from many bottles of
Lion Lager.
Without ever taking out a
loan, he gradually added a tool­
shed-sized shop, grandly named
the Las Vegas Spaza Shop and
Take always, a hairdressing sa­
lon and a video-game shack. Re­
cently he won the city contract to
replace Lawaaikamp's bucket
latrines with 54 public flush toi­
lets. And he is building a disco­
theque out of salvaged lumber.
With the shopping mall, Mr.
Bosakwe will make the leap
from selling to producing. He
plans to open a bakery, drawing
on his 16 y rs as a ho cook
before he opened his easy.
Black entrepreneurial talent
foothold in the more formal busi­
n orld, reclaiming Black
consumer dollars that go to
white merchan and convincing
Blacks that their townships and
ttlements have a future.
Already the entrepreneurs of
Lawaaikamp are hatching fu-
_ . ture schemes. In December,
Advice From a Chain Ben Nombeke, a painting con­
tractor, expects to open his $3-a­
night motel alongside the mall,
housing construction workers,
visiting relatives and - who
knows? -even tourists, in a bat­
tery_of aluminum trailer hom
With help from a few white
business leaders, the Masak­
hane Project persuaded a ship­
ping line to sell its used
containers cheap and induced a
life insurance com� -to pay.
for advertising space on the
mall's wall. The giant Pick 'n Pay
supermarket chain guaranteed
a loan for Mr. Pettie's store a d
offered free advice."
A Donkey
Cart Business
Too poor to afford trucks,
Lawaaikamp is starting a don­
key cart business for delivering
goods and removing fr8rbage. A
brick-making machine is al­
ready churning out clay blocks
for a new nursery school and will
then become a commercial en­
terprise. Residents talk of a .
chicken farm, a slaughterhouse,
and a feedlot for local livestock.
Donkey carts' and shipping
containers may not long satisfy
the expectations of Blacks who
see how the whites of George
live, Mr. Hugo conceded, but
they are a start.
-All ofus would like to drive a
Mercedes-Benz, - h said.
'Friend of All Shop'
"In his carefully calculated
dreams, he said, chuckling in an­
ticipation of a bread war.
"Tbeysupplyall thespazas. If
a bakery is open in the township,
they will have a lot of hassle. "
Vuyasile Pottie, another of
the mall's new tenants, has built
his "Friend of All Shop" into
Lawaaikamp's most impressive
spaza. Inside a shed of scrap
wood and tin, he has groceries
precisely arrayed on spotless
shelves, a deep frying machine
for fish and chips, and, five video
games. In the back, his wife
Eunice, oversees a pool parlor
with three tables.
At the mall his little three­
container supermarket will offer
customers a free ride home with
their purchases.
"That's a starter point," he
said. "Ifbusiness is good, I'll take
my profit and build with bricks."
On their way up, the mer­
chants of'Lewaaikamp have out­
lived the legal barriers intended
to force Blacks to buy from white
inerchants, only to encounter
the economic barriers of a soei-
Waymon F. Smith III ( econd, right), vice president of corporate affair , and Henry H. Brown
(left), enior vice pre ident, mark t development for Anheuser-Bu ch, join NAACP executive
director Rev. Benjamin Chavi (second, left), and NAACP Board Chairman, Dr. William Gibson,
to pr ent corporate contribution to the civil right group at its recent national convention in
• Indian poli .
brc a d p ivate
po a b
cto
Advertise
Here
·Call
869-0033.
"You don't have to throw lots
of money at the problem" Mr.
Webster said "Actually, if you
throw a couple of people at the
problem, you can do a lot."
Mr. Webster said the mall
was a pilot project that could be
replicated elsewhere, giving
•
In Southeast Michigan "one­
stop shopping" has finally come
to small business people who are
in need of technical support
services.
The Center for Urban Studies
at Wayne State University and
Commercial Bank, together
with the Michigan Small Busi­
ness Development Centers and
others, recently announced the
formation of the Southeast
Michigan Business Assistance
Consortium (SEMBAC).
SEMBAC's primary is to pro­
vi understandable and coordi­
nated assi tance-in one
location-to companies and en­
trepreneurs in outhw t Michi­
gan. The service area for this
new plan will be the counties of
Wayne and Monroe, with a spe­
cial emphasis on the city of De­
troit.
The comprehensive servi
which are available to mall
busin include:
Consulting on manage­
ment, marketing, financing and
export issu
Providing access to data
state research and development
funds.
tact SEMBAC Director Gary
Shields at (313)963-9408.
. JIM BERNACKI, Comerica
first vice president, community
development group, calls SEM­
BAC "an important new re­
source for small business people
that will help create and retain
jo and strengthen the overall
business climate in our commu­
nity."
SEMBAC consist of a dozen
affiliated organizations that wiil
provide mall busin assis­
tance in partnership under the
new umbrella group. The affili­
ates presently include:
Comerica's Small Business De­
velopment Center, Detroit Eco­
nomic Growth Corporation,
MERRA, Metropolitan Center
for High Technology, Michigan
Busin Development Corpora­
tion, Minority Technology Coun­
cil of Michigan, National
Association of Women Busin
Owners/EXCEL! I NlLAC .Eco­
nomic Development Center, and
Wayne State University's Divi­
sion of Engin ring Technology,
Procur ment, Technical Assis-
tant Center, malJ Busin D-
velopment Center and
Southeast Cluster Lead Bu i­
ness Development Center.
For more information, con-
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