A 27-year-old man is using recycled material to make jewellery. 

AmaCC enginears is in fact an expansion of Mandla Mkandla's fashion business, which he started by creating hats and caps. AmaCC specialises in designing earrings.

“I started this business in the downtown streets of Johannesburg in an effort to provide for myself,” said Mkandla.

He says he also wanted to make women look and feel beautiful. Mkandla says that he has always been fond of fashion and people know him for making hats and caps.

“I ventured into designing and selling earrings because I wanted to stand out and provide a unique service and product.”

Mkandla sells mostly to clients in KwaZulu-Natal, Botswana, the Free State and Mpumalanga.

“My biggest challenge has been generating sufficient sales, enough so that we are able to rent out a store from a local mall for better interactions and smooth communications with our clients.

“I am exploring the possibility of developing an application that will be accessed by clients from all over the world, that will help people to self-create jewellery that we will make and ship once ready."

Mkandla uses logos of popular retail goods and eateries, cigarette brands and snuff containers to make earrings and neckwear.

He says that he found these designs appealing to him because he wanted to sell something different from other sellers in the downtown informal sector.

Mkandla’s variant designs speak to kasi cultured people who know the value of snuff for traditional and smoking purposes. 

“It has been only three years, counting from 2017. We are still young in the entrepreneurship game, but we are older at heart,” says Mkandla who was born in Alexandra, Johannesburg.

He also plans to answer his ministry calling by studying theology this year.