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New lease on life for township women

SCORES of township women in Cape Town who could have been wallowing in poverty are reaping a windfall through buying surplus clothing from top retailer Woolworths and selling them in their communities.

Men from the same communities are also enjoying business success by buying and repairing "Woolies shoes" and then selling them to township folks.

Through the newly established Clothing Bank, the entrepreneurs are able to buy de-branded clothing for R15 and sell them for R60.

The Clothing Bank, housed in premises covering 300 square metres in Salt River, was co-founded by social entrepreneurs Tracey Gilmore and Tracey Chambers in February.

Chambers said each month they recruited 15 "unemployed mothers" who were then taught to run successful businesses by buying clothes from them and selling them in their own communities.

She said they also learnt life skills and gained "practical experience by using clothes as a tool to acquire trading skills, develop a business plan and start their own business."

So far more than 50 women, mainly single mothers, some heavily in debt and jobless, are on their way to business success through the initiative, she said.

Chambers said in two months they aimed to have recruited 70 women. She said, however, that unless they acquired a space of about 1000 square metres, they would be forced to stop recruiting.

Zukiswa Mngcitha, a mother of two from Khayelitsha, said she is now a "confident and successful businesswoman", thanks to the Clothing Bank.

Mngcitha, 46, who trades from her house, said she was buying R2000's worth of clothing every month, sold them and made profit of between R2000 and R4000.

She said she had previously worked as a cleaner at a food-outlet, but had to resign from the job to take care of her unemployed husband who had fallen ill.

"It was a hard life. I worried about my family's future a lot. I prayed for a chance to improve my life. That is what the Clothing Bank has done for me."

Larry Mthimkhulu, 46, from Gugulethu, is a father of two. He said he was buying about 200 shoes from the Clothing Bank a month, repaired and sold them to the community. "My business has changed a lot, people now know that I sell shoes from Woolies," he said.

Zinzi Mgolodela from Woolworths said they had donated R5million's worth of clothing towards the project as a way of uplifting poor people

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