My Workshop Stories

No township may symbolize the heart and soul of the struggle of the uprising against Apartheid quite like Soweto. Located 25 km outside of the Johannesburg CBD, in many ways, it’s as much a symbol of South African strength as the country itself. Many great South Africans have called Soweto home. Giants like Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu both lived in arguably the most famous street in Soweto, Vilakazi Street, which sparked one of the most influential moments in the dark history of South Africa on June 16 1976, when a friendly student-led protest against the use of Afrikaans as the medium to teach, turned violent killing more than 174 people, mainly children.

The birth of a new South Africa served new hope for equality across all demographics, bridging the inequalities of the past through new opportunities.

The stories told on these pages are products of the men and women who have risen to the challenge helped by programs through the Filpro initiative, spawning entrepreneurs through providing upskilling and much-needed business assistance. Through this initiative livelihoods can be supported, lives can be changed, communities uplifted, and positive influence injected into informal spaces.

These aren’t the glossy showroom floors you’d see in a Sandton-based OEM branch. These are the actual scenes that inhabit South Africa. These are the raw grassroots spaces which serve millions of South Africans across townships throughout South Africa. These are their Workshop stories.