Common Ground Cafe: Located in Makhanda, South Africa
In 2015, Inkululeko opened the Common Ground Cafe in Makhanda, South Africa. The cafe brings together learners, teachers, and members of the community to have a meal, facilitate learning, and support local entrepreneurs. Zuko Luyanda Gqadavama ka Somfiyane, the Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning and Research coordinator of Inkululeko, details how the cafe developed over the years and its future trajectory.
South Africa has one of the highest unemployment rates worldwide at 44.4% unemployment. Half of South Africans at age 25 are not in education, employment, or training (NEETs) and ⅗ of youth under 30 live in poverty. The province Makhanda is located in, the Eastern Cape, faces the highest unemployment rate in South Africa at 47.1% unemployment. Inkululeko looks to alleviate poverty and unemployment in the region by offering education and career resources to South African youth.
Common Ground Cafe was originally meant as an alternative to Inkululeko’s academic support program. For individuals who cannot pursue higher education for reasons such as expense, the cafe provides teaching for running businesses.
Unfortunately, like many other organizations during COVID, the Common Ground Cafe was forced to shut down for a period of time due to lack of revenue and funding. This is when they realized the model they were using was not financially sustainable.
“The learning aspect was there, but not the profit,” says Zuko.
After regulations were lifted, organizers of the Common Ground Cafe formulated a completely new social entrepreneurship model in partnership with Norec. This model looks to partner with other institutions–colleges, business institutes–to guide and teach local entrepreneurs. For example, business management students from local colleges would act as mentors to local entrepreneurs.
Common Ground Cafe is also working with Rhodes University's community engagement unit to create a social entrepreneurship course for local entrepreneurs. The cafe hopes to strengthen relationships with Rhodes University while giving local entrepreneurs the opportunity to earn an accredited certificate that can be used when applying for jobs and funding.
Looking at the bigger picture, Zuko hopes the program will benefit South Africa as a whole by getting local people to become entrepreneurs and grow the South African economy.
The new Common Ground Cafe model is still in pilot. Zuko envisions the cafe to become an incubator where local entrepreneurs can come for community and guidance. Successful entrepreneurs can then give back to the cafe and help it grow. Once the model is implemented, Zuko hopes that the Common Ground Cafe can start sustaining itself instead of relying on external funding and to eventually replicate the model in local schools.