Photo by Bev Meldrum – Sunset Beach, Cape Town

I’m just back from a 2 week trip to South Africa. We weren’t planning to go out and meet social entrepreneurs but they kept appearing out of nowhere!

On the Saturday after we arrived in Cape Town we went with some friends into a couple of the townships. We first went to visit a centre called Beth Uriel. It is home for 34 teenage boys – guys that lived in the townships and who had either got into trouble, or were mixing with the wrong people or who didn’t get much support from their families.

The guys move into the house where they become part of the Beth Uriel family. They are all put through school – with lots of help from volunteer tutors and then encouraged to go onto college or into work.

As part of their fundraising efforts they have set up a social enterprise to generate income. The guys have designed a clothing label called Me’Kasi. A term that means ‘my home’ or ‘my place’.

The Tool Factory has gone into partnerships with the guys at Beth Uriel and will be selling the t-shirts through our website.

To have a sneak preview of what we are going to be able to offer visit the Me’Kasi website.

We also had the change to meet Phil, a social entrepreneur, working on a project that makes high quality shoes and employs local women. But maybe more about him another time.

Have a look at more of my photos from South Africa