Buntu Matole on Transforming Khayelitsha Through Tourism | Buntu Matole | TBCY
Welcome to another episode of The Brand Called You vodcast and podcast show that brings you leadership lessons, knowledge, experience and wisdom from 1000s of successful individuals from around the world. I'm your host, Ashutosh Garg and today I'm delighted to welcome a very interesting and accomplished entrepreneur from South Africa, Mr. Buntu to matole. Buntu to welcome to the show. Thank you I Buntu is the co founder of ABCD concepts, which is a local travel agency working along with the Khayelitsha community, a township in weather Western Cape Buntu let's talk about ABCD concepts. Can you share the story behind the founding of ABCD concepts in Khayelitsha? Well, thank you for that question. And thank you for
having me. So ABCD concepts is basically a lifestyle marketing and tourism business based in the heart of MCI leisure, founded by the two graduates of the Raymond Ackerman Academy of interoperable development, which was founded in 2015 by myself moonbot and my business partner I ended up Kuba. Okay, and tell me a little bit about the Khayelitsha community and what is so what are the unique features of the community that you have you had to find you founded your business they're originally born in Johannesburg, but grew up in Cape Town to be specific in Khayelitsha, which is a one of the youngest or the last communities to be formed by the apartheid regime government. So I grew up in Khayelitsha, and I studied all my life in this neighborhood and currently working from it. But the interesting part about it is that in my upbringing, I got into get to see the neighborhood from different angles, whether it was me on my sporting days, playing around the neighborhood, or visiting family from within the neighborhood around, and also now working in the neighborhood as well. So I know
Khayelitsha, from the back of my hand, as it's the one place that I call home. And of course, being young and growing up in the neighborhood, they have been a lot of interesting things that I either wanted to achieve or wanted to revive that stems back from my childhood background growing up in the neighborhood. And I felt like it was an interesting space to be in and to introduce the world to it. Fantastic. And how could the transition from sports focused
initiatives to creating a tourist attraction in Khayelitsha? How did that go about and what was some of your own challenges and learnings? So in 2015, we started our first initial concept called sporting code, which was a sports for developmental program that we use to organize sports events from your sporting tournaments, talking about Soccer, FIFA side and netball, and also every Wednesday would go to a special school called Cailleach. A special school where we educated kids on how to play or to introduce the sport called basketball. As for me growing up in a Khayelitsha, I was fortunate enough to play the sport, basketball, but not only that sport, but of course, the first love for any young boy in the township, it becomes soccer. But after soccer, basketball was one of the sports that was quite foreign and that was inclusive. And for me being in those spaces, it kinda like brought so much that I that I witnessed today and that I'm part of today. And for us to have transitioned from that doing a sporting events in the township, it was only on us that was self funded. No one funded that. But
in 2016, when Airbnb were looking for experienced hosts in South Africa, so South Africa in 2016, was one of the 12 top cities in the world to host Airbnb experiences. And fortunately for us by the work that we were doing through the sporting activities, either the tournaments or the coaching clinics for basketball, we were hot. We were headhunted by Airbnb when they were looking for those experiences host and we had to incorporate the sporting activities that we were doing into creating an immersive township experiences and that's how our transition was I'm from the sport to tourism. And
basically, we were just doing the good work on the ground. And Airbnb felt like we were one of the best hosts to have them on their platform. Amazing. And when you started ABCD concepts, what were some of the challenges you faced? And what did you have to overcome to become a registered tourist guide. So, unlike any other business that started in the township, in our own business, we started with nothing. That was one of the biggest challenge. And of course, the idea of convincing
our parents like we had a job. Because traditionally, after completing your studies, you then find a job where you can be employed and where you can have a stable income, and having to start something from scratch and from nothing. That took us a lot of convincing to our own extended families, in proving that we are able to create something from nothing to become something. So for me, that has been the biggest challenge, but also the barriers to entry in acquiring tourism, tourism badge as a tour guide, but fortunately for us, because it was still early days for Airbnb to have brought us in. And fortunately,
there was a revenue guarantee that the time that of course, we had then invested in us becoming registered tour guides. And it was very expensive for us to afford from our own pockets. But through the revenue that was guaranteed, we were able to convince ourselves. And of course, because of this became a new venture for us and understanding that compliancy was an issue. And we had to make sure that we were covered on
that side because hosting people without being an accredited guide is trouble. So we had to dismiss the trouble and to ensure that we are qualified, and we have the badges to host people. So it became that transition that Airbnb allowed us to tap into and allowed us to become who we are today. Thank you. But Well clearly you have a very close bond with your community in Khayelitsha. Tell me a little more about how do
you engage with the local community through your business? Wow, a lot of businesses in the township they only cater for the market in the township and us having to be involved in the tourism and hosting internationals. We have gotten to expose many businesses and involve these businesses in many different ways through the experiences that we're doing or the tours that we're doing in the townships of haylage. Our involvement stems from us being able to redefine what each product is, and how best do we feel it can fit into the tourism industry. Right. So our involvement stretches from an a home library in an informal settlement somewhere around Khayelitsha, that has been seeking donations in terms of having books into their own spaces, where we have created packages that involves our clients or guests to at least contribute something to these establishment, for example, talking about a home library that is not funded by the government, we have made it a part where our guests before they even make their way to, to our experiences to purchase a book, a reading book that they can leave behind for this home library to be able to read books with the kids that do participate in those programs. So for us, it's it differs from each business on on what they offer. But we have seen our impact being felt in many different ways and our involvement being crucial to some of these organizations because of the only cater to the market inside the neighborhood.
But we have now started opening up those markets to also to be international sports within our own college. Amazing, amazing. And just like you told me how much the community does for you and how you work with the community.
What do you how do you promote Khayelitsha as a vibrant and thriving destination to tourists? So since 2016, through just one experience We saw that we were marketing Khayelitsha as a destination. But this was only as rendering one service that of course, that was limiting people that could actually join us. So in that way, we started diversifying products and tapping into the lifestyle and the culture of this existing neighborhood, introducing some of the things that people could not find on their own, but in creating opportunity for people to come in and become part of the neighborhood of the college. So since 2016, we started diversifying these product offerings, in making sure that we open up the community to everyone that wants to experience the neighborhood. If I would go back to 2016, we only had one offering. But coming to today, we have more than eight offerings that we offer to internationals who wants to either immerse themselves into the township of the college, but also opening up opportunities for them to come and visit the neighborhood in the way they feel comfortable in being part of this neighborhood.
So give me an example of one of your aid packages. You know if a tourist Okay, I want to come as a tourist to college, sir. What are the activities you would want me to do to be able to understand the community better? Thank you for that. So, one, I want one one of the experiences
of course that we started with was the running tour. I myself growing up, involved in sport, I was a long distance runner, but also the community on its own is a running community. Were you seeing a lot of people during summer season, running from different parts of Khayelitsha, but going to this one center point. So that idea came from that. But outside of it, these
entertainment they is culture these various activities, but the second one was the potting experience. Coming into the township of Buckeye Leach and immersing yourself and finding that there are people here and the art establishment, which is the notion that still exist or prevail in a lot of people's mind is that we don't have basic structures in the neighborhood. So and also we we don't have nightlife spaces that we go out to and hang out. So that became another way of us just getting paid to go and get to the clubs and having fun. Outside of that we've created also a cooking experience with a local family, where you get to come and get to cook with a local family, not for the food to be prepared for you, but for you to prepare the food with the local family. So it has gotten from running to
pairing to cycling, to work within around the neighborhood, and also to drive within the neighborhood. So we've created all of these packages, but also, we've seen a need from different institutions, whether they either wanting to understand more of the historical part of the neighborhood, or they want to understand the entrepreneurial part of the neighborhood. So we've created all of these packages to cater for the needs of our of our clients that are wanting to immerse themselves within the site. But with the particular detail of course of that interesting and how has the perception of Kallista Khayelitsha changed amongst the tourists and maybe the local then government since you started ABCD concepts. The the reception has been very warm for us. Over the last eight years of us hosting people into our neighborhood. We have seen
people opening up their doors to allow us in we have seen people wanting to take pictures with us as we are running or cycling within the streets of a college. We are seeing people building friendships and connecting with our guests. We have seen people applauding what we're doing, because of the concept that the misconception that people have about townships, but also we have seen bonds being formed. We have seen people finding
organization within the neighborhood of the Cailleach. So all of these things or impact that we have seen, it has kind of like brought us closer to the community. And every day when we walk past in different parts of the neighborhood. We are always asked, When are you bringing back the tourists and this is something that it just happens again. Make clear with people
just because of the know the type of work that we're doing. And they felt the impact of the work that we're doing to take you back a bit back during COVID, for example, during COVID 19, we had remote workers who were stuck in South Africa, but because of the came to the townships of Buckeye, Lita, and so, the life that is in the Khayelitsha, and some of the projects that we have in Khayelitsha. I do want to say that every day they were sending Ubers, with groceries to such organizations. And with that just one thing that they were
doing it it still kept us with the people of the neighborhood of Khayelitsha, appreciating the efforts that we have made and the commitments that we have done in our neighborhood. And all of those have put it as high up on the map of this community of the college. Amazing. My next question will do is what role does technology play to support your own business operations and your marketing.
Our business has been slowly being able to survive through technology, a lot of different applications that we use in our daily operations. If I start with the basic one being WhatsApp, if you go on our website, there is the link to our website to our WhatsApp number where you can be able to connect with us, but also understanding like as a business. The website is also important to showcase what we also do in the neighborhood besides us just showing people what do we have on Facebook, but also on the website that caused them to link up all of the other social media platforms within it. But also understanding taking it a step further. When someone is in the UK, and they see our product and they want to consume it. We have also installed the booking platform
in our own website, which all of these components, they help us to stay relevant, and they help people to create conveniency for them. And even when our journey started, which is through this giant platform called Airbnb, that was also another big or the huge milestone that we ever had achieved. Because it was also putting us into the online marketplace that everyone can get us into. So our business is solely being in its own existence. It's always been made by technology. And if it wasn't for the technology, I don't think we would be where we are today. And we are so grateful that we were able to be the
early adopters of it, and to be able to use it efficiently to grow our business. Fascinating. My next question is that how do you ensure that tourism that you are promoting is culturally sensitive and respectful? Because you're bringing outsiders into a community? Yes. So it is very important to mention that tourism before our time has always been unfair to the communities that we are from where when we were growing up would see big buses driving in and people coming out to their cameras, just driving by and taking pictures. And that has always been offensive to the people on the ground. And for us, when we gotten the opportunity to have people in our own neighborhood, we had made it a point to address such issues that you don't take pictures of people without their consent. But also, what we more
likely to encourage is that let's take selfies to create memories of our own time in our neighborhood. But also we have gotten to an extent where we need to document these experiences that we're doing. And by so to share these memories with our clients. So as much as before our time it was very invasive. But during our time we had made sure because we were part of the victims that were victimized by people that were there before us. So we had learned we had to learn from all of those things that were done before our time to ensure that we level the playing field for everyone whether you are the guest or you are the local person to ensure that we don't create invasive spaces for our guests, but also we don't put our people as Vic Tim's when we are doing these experiences. So
there's one thing that we have learned from the Airbnb platform. Not to say other platforms are not educating, but because of it was a starting point. And it kind of like helped us to curate experiences than to create holes. So an
experience, it's me, inviting you into my own space, but also immersing you in my space, which is a tall, it's me giving you my own perspective of my community, which that's the two differences. So we had understand that people don't want to be bystanders, but people want to be immersed within the township. So that's what we have started creating in order to bridge and to break away from being invasive in our own neighborhood. Well said. Would you my last question, if you what are your
thoughts on the future of tourism in Khayelitsha, and other similar communities? I believe spaces that were previously disadvantaged, have an upper hand today to tell their own stories in their own way. And I see spaces like Khayelitsha, as the testing ground of the future of what tourism looks like. For an example, in spaces that have never been tapped before, there is more opportunities and more knowledge to be shared. And also, there is more people to be groomed to become tourist guides, in order for them to understand what it is like to host people in their own neighborhood. I believe the
future is in townships or pretty much communities that were previously disadvantaged. If you talk about urban townships, or you talk about rural communities, I believe that's where more tourists are wanting to go today than before, because of the accessibility and the people that are within those communities. That's where I see the future of tourism. I bet if we have this conversation in the next 10 years, you will be there to testify of what I'm saying today that really tourism is going to be the biggest thing within the township spaces and the rural communities amazing. And Buntu on that note, I want to say thank you so much for speaking to me, you know, I have seen tourism. For a country I've seen tourism for a monument I've seen tourism for a site like a beach, or a mountain. But building and
promoting tourism from a community, involving the entire community, to be able to experience visitors from outside and for visitors to be able to experience that community is definitely a first for me. I just have had such an amazing conversation with you today. Delighted at the kind of work that you're doing. I'm certainly certainly going to look out for how ABCD concepts and you and your partner grow from strength to strength. Thank you for speaking to me and good luck to
you. It's such an honor. Thank you so much for having me. And I truly appreciate this moment. And thank you to you and your team. Thank you. Thank you for listening to The Brand Called You videocast and podcast. A platform that brings you
knowledge, experience and wisdom of hundreds of successful individuals from around the world. To visit our website www.tbcy.in to watch and listen to the story but many more individuals. You can also follow us on YouTube, Facebook,
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2024-08-11 03:11
