A Hand-Up to #doDifferent
So many businesses these days are choosing to #doDifferent as a fundamental part of their business journey, and many others are doing their best to give back to their communities and the country in any way they can.
When considering the wide range of initiatives undertaken by businesses across the country, this famous Theodore Roosevelt quote springs to mind – “Do what you can, with what you have, wherever you are”.
This week we look at a company that chose to make a difference in a seemingly small way, but which embodies the spirit of #doDifferent.
Granadilla is a clothing and accessories brand founded in Cape Town in 2014. Starting with quirky swimwear, their range now includes t-shirts, jumpers, hats, towels, and flip-flops – all designed and produced in South Africa.
The name of the brand was inspired by the granadilla ice lollies sold on South African beaches by ice cream sellers. Ice cream sellers have been patrolling South African beaches for decades with their cooler boxes filled with cold refreshing ice creams perfect on a warm beach day. Sadly, these ice cream sellers, like with so many similar work opportunities in South Africa, face an uphill battle in getting stock and getting themselves to the beaches where they can sell their products. This makes it incredibly difficult to earn a reasonable living.
The Granadilla founders saw this and decided to get involved to coordinate and develop a lift scheme between the sellers. This meant each was able to reduce their cost to get to the beaches with their product and subsequently reduce their transit time and increase their earnings opportunity.
As a further nod to the inspiration for the brand, Granadilla developed the Clifton range of swimwear which was given to the ice cream sellers as a unified piece of clothing to identify them.
Sure, this is a small drop in the ocean when considering the challenges faced by so many in South Africa, but it certainly has made a sizable difference to those individuals. More importantly, this goes to show that we can all make a difference, and every choice to #doDifferent brings us closer to the more equitable society we all want.
Check out Granadilla here.
