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The looting and vandalism recently seen in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng have created massive problems that cannot simply be solved by restocking shelves – especially when there were no shelves to begin with. A report from Yebo Fresh in collaboration with Ask Africa reveals that the informal trade was hit particularly hard in the unrest: one in three spaza shops experienced looting, nearly 80% of spaza shops lost more than half of their stock and 87% of spaza shops require capital support to resume trade. If there was ever a time for spaza shops to play a vital role in providing communities with access to food, that time is now. Despite their structural and financial challenges, some spaza shops were up and running within 24 hours of being looted, an amazing display of resilience and a testament to the importance of these outlets in our communities.

Comment: It is critical to understand the perspective and experiences of the informal trade, as they play a key and ongoing role in South Africa’s FMCG universe. To access the insightful and practical Spaza Shop Riot and Looting Impact Report, click here.

One of the casualties of the recent unrest was the Isipingo Market, in that flat and smoky industrial former swampland south of Durban. For decades, local hawkers have sold their fruit and veg at the market, bringing revenue and employment to the local community; sadly, the iconic market was totally destroyed in the looting and rioting. Now a strategic partnership between several local religious and community organisations, the Rebuilding for Hope and Prosperity (Rehop) initiative, is intent on re-establishing parts of the market, helping the associated businesses recover from their losses, and rebuilding the social cohesion that was strained in some areas during the events. The assisting organisations – which have access to accounting, legal, business, finance, and humanitarian services – would focus initially on a micro-finance model of grants, loans, and commercial funding for qualifying businesses.

Comment: Out of tragedy, many communities, organisations, and businesses are looking at ways to create a more sustainable business and social order. These efforts are to be commended and supported.

Ever since an ambitious young cartoonist first sketched a whistling rodent at the wheel of a tugboat, brands have been scrambling to get some of that sweet mouse action for themselves. The latest of these would be Dis-Chem, which is teaming up with Disney Africa to bring customers a brand-new shop-and-collect range with the exclusive Disney Healthy-To-Go series this month. The promo follows the resounding success of their earlier Disney MicroPopz, Popstix and Frozen 2 playing Cardz promotions. In other news of brand team-ups, Pick n Pay announced last week that they would be launching a collab with SA’s newest flexible airline, LIFT, for its Smart Shopper members who will earn 3x more loyalty points when they book a LIFT flight online or in store at any Pick n Pay nationwide. “We love the fact that, like Pick n Pay, LIFT listens to what customers need in terms of flexibility,” explains Andrew Mills, marketing retail executive at Pick n Pay. “They also value partnerships and believe in the additional benefits that can be passed on to our shared customers.”

Comment: There’s no “I” in “Team”, people. Some interesting and relevant synergies here.

Walmart has taken an unusual step for a retailer, offering several of its proprietary technologies and capabilities to other businesses serving customers shopping across digital and physical storefronts. Retailers will be able to access Walmart’s cloud-based services on the Adobe Commerce platform to offer seamless pickup and delivery to their customers and reach new customers on Walmart’s marketplace where they can leverage the retailer's fulfilment services to offer 2-day shipping anywhere in the US. Unrelated, in India, rival Amazon and Walmart’s Flipkart business are facing investigation for allegedly promoting select sellers on their e-commerce platforms and using anti-competitive business practices. Less related, more encouraging: French giant Carrefour has announced that only cage-free eggs will be sold in all of the company’s Taiwanese hypers and supers from 2025. More related to this, not the earlier stories, is that Lidl is expanding its vegan Vemondo range, with 17 new products in 800 UK locations and more than 1,500 locations in France. They’re also trialling new “scan as you shop” tech in the UK to speed things up at the register.

Comment: The replacement of some meat products with vegetable protein is essential if we are to start properly cutting emissions in the food industry.

In the verdant uplands of the Western Cape near George, Nestlé’s Skimmelkrans farm is showing the way to zero-emissions agriculture. The farm, which practices prudent soil work, water conservation, feed management, and manure processing, is expected to reach net zero by 2023. “Producing quality milk is crucial to increase the nutritional value of our products without compromising on taste and health,” explains Hoven Meyer, agricultural services group manager at Nestlé East and Southern Africa Region. “It is for this reason that we invested innovative and environmentally-friendly practices to improve care and nutrition for the cows on the farm, which means better nutrition in the milk products produced.” Great for the planet, great for productivity: in just over a year the farm has seen an +11% increase in milk production per cow, a -40% reduction in energy through solar, and a +45% increase in active carbon in soil.

Comment: When businesses like Nestlé focus on achieving sustainable production competitively and at scale, we have a crack at mitigating the worst impacts of climate change in our own lifetimes.

The European Union, as you know, is South Africa’s largest trading partner, accounting for 22% of total trade, and the biggest market for our agricultural produce. So, when the EU says, “sort out your packaging”, it behoves us to take them seriously. The Union has regulations and guidelines in place for certain single-use and non-recyclable materials and has recently published a list of ten single-use plastics which are banned. The ban also applies to items such as cups, and food and beverage containers made of expanded polystyrene. Fortunately, South Africa is already – and independently – ramping up policy to meet these standards: the Extender Producer Responsibility Scheme encourages producers to use or produce more environmentally conscious products and packaging, while the South African Plastic Pact considers the creation of a circular economy with a focus on plastic packaging.

Comment: The drivers of sustainability are everywhere, and everywhere they are kicking into gear.

Much ink has been spilled in the last few weeks about income inequality in South Africa, particularly as an underlying factor in the recent unrest. But what sort of numbers are we talking about exactly? Here goes. The top 1% of South Africans hold more household wealth than the bottom 99% – holding about 55% of all relevant assets. The bottom 50% in fact holds negative wealth on average, with liabilities or debt levels that exceed the market value of their assets. And it’s not just about how much, it’s also about the types of assets: 10% of wealth holders own more than 55% of all forms of assets including pensions, housing wealth, unincorporated business assets and currencies, and hold 99.8% of bonds and stock in the economy. All of this and more in a study by the World Inequality Lab of the Paris School of Economics and the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand.

Comment: These numbers are stark. Can we use them to help us design a more equitable society?