Written by Lonwabo Marele, CEO at Successful Journals

Cape Town’s tourism scene has, for many years, attracted millions of international visitors that come to experience some of the world’s best and most beautiful wonders.

Ever since South Africa overcame the segregation stigma, in 1994, international tourists have grown a great interest to understand the history of townships and the people from the township.

Friends and business partners, Ayanda Cuba and Buntu Motale, from Khayelitsha, have made it their mission to live no stone unturned.

Ever since they met at the Raymond Ackerman Academy’s entrepreneurship programme in 2014, they have been at the forefront of bridging the tourism gap in townships.

They are the co-founders of ABCD Concepts, a lifestyle marketing tourism company based at the Khayelitsha Bandwidth Barn.

Their mission is to represent the cultural experiences, while fostering a learning opportunity for people and businesses within local communities, through physical activity.

To do this they offer various tours. They have a 9 km jogging route that stretches from the Barn to some of the oldest areas of the community.

They offer a guided 12 km cycling tour that includes visits to local entrepreneurs, historical learnings and origins of the community.

Based on the interest of the tourist, they have customized experiences focused on entertainment, entrepreneurship, academic and historical events that create a memorable excursion.

All their options include local food, a learning activity and entertainment.

Originally from Gqebera, formerly known as Port Elizabeth, Ayanda moved to Khayelitsha at a young age. He sees himself as someone who has always been solution driven. He started a few projects growing up, including printing t-shirts and designing invitations for people and their events.

Both of the budding entrepreneurs are quite active in the sports and arts space. They have created events that gave artists the platform to showcase their work.

“We ventured into our first initiative, Sporting Code, a sports for development programme that was looking to use the power of sport to bring a positive impact to society by giving youth an alternative thing to do when they are not at school,” Ayanda said.

Originally from Gauteng and raised in Khayelitsha, through his love for sport and community upliftment, Buntu has traveled to most parts of South Africa. When not at the office, you’ll find him on the basketball court with his teammates, or out on his early morning jogs where he thinks about the various things he can do to help his community.

When the Covid19 Pandemic hit South Africa in 2020, the tourism industry was one of the industries that were hardest hit. The two entrepreneurs had to come up with a solution fast.

Lucky for them, UVU Africa (previously known as the Cape Innovation and Technology Initiative) introduced mentorship sessions for entrepreneurs based at the Khayelitsha Bandwidth Barn.

“During Covid19, UVU Africa had an entrepreneurial support initiative that it was running, where it was allocating mentors with the group that were a part of the ecosystem. So, we would have mentors like Nonto Nkanyezi who would check in on us once a week and give us a task that we had to complete. She had a business overview of what we were offering and as well as how we could best position our business,” said Ayanda.

The budding entrepreneurs said those check-ins were helpful as they had someone to look at their business from a different perspective, while keeping them accountable to growth from critical feedback.

“I believe life is a journey and each path will take you to a different direction. For any young person who either looks up to me personally or other young movers, it is important to understand that this thing is not easy, and we all have a role to play. So, for them, when they are trying to navigate their way through this life thing, they need to show up, they need to show up for themselves, show up to the opportunity that is presented, show up to the opportunity of failure, and they need to know that it is all about learning and moving forward.

“But also important, introspection and taking feedback. So, it is never about the end result but the process. So, they need to value the process of getting to that destination they are dreaming off or hoping to achieve. They need to ensure that at the end they plant what they want to reap at the end of the day. It is all about working the land and consistently having time to invest in themselves and showing up for themselves,” said Ayanda.

To book a tour, contact ABCD Concepts on 067044631 or visit their website.