Monday, November 29, 2010
Would “buying black” work in South Africa?
For some time I have been following the progress of the “empowerment experiment”, undertaken by African American couple Maggie and John Anderson. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson have dedicated themselves to patronizing only African-American owned businesses. All of their family’s needs—groceries, financial services, leisure, health, etc…-- must be serviced by African American owned businesses, even if that means driving long distances or other inconveniences. As you might imagine, the cost in time and money of the Anderson’s “Empowerment Experiment” has been significant for this family of four.
On talk shows and over the internet the Anderson’s have promoted, and defended, their experiment as a way to keep money inside African American communities. African American buying power in the United States is fast approaching one trillion dollars, but much of that money flows out of African American communities.
Thousands of African Americans have found common cause with the Andersons. The “Empowerment Experiment” has over 8,000 subscribers so far, mostly in the Chicago area where the Andersons live.
Reading about their challenges and successes got me thinking about South Africa—would this ever work in South Africa? Could a middle class black consumer forswear all but black owned suppliers even if he/she wanted too? Or would that mean driving hours to find a black owned bank, or black owned grocery?
Right now companies implement empowerment legislation because the South African government incentives them to participate in the transformation process. What if that top down approach was met with a grass roots consumer movement to 'buy black', and keep black dollars in black communities? Is this racist? Is this practical? Would it prop up inferior products, or empower black businesses? Maybe SA should stick with the "Buy SA" slogan rather than "Buy Black"....but then again, that might simply reinforce existing consumer behavior.
Most importantly- do South African consumers want to buy from Black Businesses? Or would they rather buy foreign labels? The American "Empowerment Experiment" might not be for South Africa, but some of the problems the Andersons are trying to solve should look familiar.....how can SA learn from this experiment?
I would welcome your opinions ....
Conor Godfrey, saibl office, Washington DC
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
"Buy Black" is a noble activist approach and has its merits in an environment where purchasing power of blacks is not benefiting the communities and society in which the blacks themselves live. The creation of domitory townships in Southern Africa led to a situation where income was earned and spent in predominantly "white areas" where by law only white business was licenced. Today large white corporations have set up big shoping malls in black areas. If a large number of shops in these malls are let out to black business and this results in local residents effectively buying black there should be a win win situation. If white business is benefitting at the expense of black business and putting very little into the community then the "Buy Black" experiment would be very relevant and should be encouraged.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, I believe black consumer activisim in South Africa should take a big picture view. That means consumers should identify and support companies, whether black or white, that have clear progressive policies on supplier diversity and employment equity. Such companies must have a demonstrated track record of consistently investing in the development of bona fide black suppliers and of giving them increasing opportunities in their supply chains. Ineveitably such companies will be more progressive in equal opportunity employment.
In South Africa the Black Empowerment Codes of Good Practice have had a very limited and superficail impact, as companies have found ways to score points without doing anything significant. However with purchasing power shifting dramatically in to black hands, there is a real opportunity to for black consumers to harness their power to bring about real transformation and integration. "Buy Black" cells might just be the catalyst for such a broader movement in the abscence of an effective, black led national consumer movement.