After an absence of five years from apparel and gift market Atlanta’s Americasmart Showrooms, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has re-established a permanent showroom to showcase local products manufactured by small businesses and cooperatives.
This was one of the of the DTI’s interventions to broaden the participation of small, medium and micro-sized enterprises and cooperatives in the economy through global markets.
Among the more established businesses participating was the Bayede! Royal Signature Textiles company, from KwaZulu-Natal, which had “strong” connections with the Zulu Monarch King Goodwill Zwelethini, who, in backing it as a job creation project, had hailed the company as the first to develop a “royal” and luxury product range for the African continent.
Products on display included ottomans and coffee tables made from recycled tyres by East London-based Ozzy’s Eco Decor, handwoven baskets made from ukhasi grass and ilala palm leaves by Angeline Masuku, and customised furniture by Limpopo-based Tlanggape Upholstery.