Finding purpose through repurposing waste
It’s early morning at Market Square in Hermanus and there’s a clamour as stall owners roll up their shutters. I’m weaving through the stalls to find one Margaret Motsoene. It doesn’t take me long -everyone knows Margaret.
Some people have so much joie de vivre that it can’t help but be reflected in their way of being. Margaret Motsone has that trademark. She has a big smile, a big voice… she’s expansive in every way.
“A business is a person.” says the incisive entrepreneur, who is as bright and bold as the Ndebele jewellery she makes. Her company. Soneni Brands, under the umbrella of Throneroom Training and Projects cc. also produces handmade soaps, traditional Ndebele dolls, and souvenirs – all with upcycled paper and recycled textile materials.
Margaret was nominated for South Africa’s travel and tourism accolade. Lilizela Awards. She was again recognised last month at Overstrand Municipality’s 2017 Mayoral Awards, where she was a finalist in the Entrepreneurial category.
She says: “1 feel blessed to be recognised for what I’ve done.” Especially in light of the fact that, for Margaret, getting to this point has been less of a walk in the park and more of a (figuratively speaking) slog up Table Mountain. Due. in part, to the challenges of being a female businesswoman.
Despite this, she has never taken the woe-is-me approach and says her aim is to get others to shake off what she calls, “patterns of complacency”.
“I want to show people it’s not about where you come from. Whatever you need is at your fingertips.” She makes a broad sweep with her arms to indicate waste bins. “Call me an eco-warrior artist. My vision is to see no waste in Zwelihle in 10 years.”
We’re surrounded by the colourful upcycled wares of the seven women Margaret now employs as part of her job creation mission. “One woman creates the beads. One paints… It’s a whole process, which allows them to put food on the table.”
Margaret set up her stall at Market Square seven months ago.’l was so excited. I said this is going to be a hub for people who make things to exhibit.”She says her company is an ideal marriage of her two passions – conservation and wellness. The women she employs have difficult backgrounds. “One woman was depressed after losing her job. I said to her: ‘You know what will be good for you?The arts…
“She’s been drinking less since being with me. She has a sense of purpose, that’s what this shop is about.”Margaret, who has two grownup kids and five grandchildren of her own. says she hopes to help rehabilitate families. “Women run the country. Making a difference in one woman is
Margaret makes many of the repurposed creations you’ll find in her stall. She picks up one of her handmade Ndebele dolls, fashioned from cloth scraps and glass bottles. “My dolls are real people,” she says. It can take her an entire day to make one. “When your bead, you are quiet. You’re able to think and solve problems. You are present. And you are transferring that to whoever takes [the item).”
Margaret’s career has spanned everything from modelling to acting and she’s even a trained
beautician, which inspired her idea to make “indigenous health soaps”using fynbos. In Johannesburg, her hometown, she found her love for social work and spent several years as a community development worker. She first came to Hermanus to work with a missionary group.”We started doing prison ministries and giving food to the homeless.” From 2012 to 2014. she was involved in training people in Zwelihle to sculpt with paper, after spotting an opportunity in the waste problem.
“When I see waste I see potential… I’m concerned about the Earth and wastage. I believe that hunger is related to waste… If you want to see how people think, look in their dustbin. Let your dustbin talk to you.” (She’s full of these interesting phrases and I keep thinking. I must mentally file that somewhere, under “Margaret Gems to Live By”).
Margaret inherited her entrepreneurial bent from her shop owner father. “He moved product like crazy.” When the opportunity came for Margaret to join the Hermanus Business Chamber (HBC) in 2012. she grabbed it. “It was the best decision I ever made.”Through numerous training modules, she leant key business skills and has started working with organisations that seek to develop small businesses, such as Cape Craft & Design Institute (CCDI).
She’s now a member of HBC’s Executive committee. “We’re working together to intensify community development [and] come up with programmes.”Her next goal is to do roadshows into Hermanus communities, to spread the word about her “waste 2 wonderful” business and recruit more women.
‘I want to inject people with hope’.
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