[INTERVIEW] Meet our Entrepreneurs: Loubie Rusch
We are a South African NPO based in Cape Town. At Oribi Village, our aim is to promote social entrepreneurship through our incubation programs, events and coworking space. During the lockdown in South Africa, we did our best to support our entrepreneurs and communities through online webinars, challenges and via sharing our incubatees stories. Here is Loubie’s one.
Who is Loubie?
Loubie is a food system entrepreneur from Oribi Village’s Cohort 2. She promotes reviving knowledge, emphasizes cultivation, explores & encourages cooking with the Capes’ local wild foods. Her project aims to develop the production of indigeneous plants in the farms and teach consumer how to use them. Loubie is passionate about re-integrating wild foods into our lives. Through Making KOS, her project, she is striving to catalyse a significant market in wild foods bus she also has a wider social and ecological impact around Cape Town. Her social business conciliates health, wellbeing and culture heritage which is a wonderful challenge in this South African context.
About her Food XX Women 2020 Nomination
The 11th of May 2020, Loubie has been nominated among the 2020 Food XX finalists! At least 73 phenomenal women have been selected as finalists for this year’s awards and she’s part of them in both categories of ‘food educator’ and ‘heritage’! A real South African food passionate, ready to share her knowledge! Congratulations to her!
More information : https://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/436/202949.html?fbclid=IwAR3y8i_78dWjH2HHsc7DgKvq0zcEVO1NSuL9r0fIJycofiogqehzfA57cKA
Concerning the lockdown, what is the situation in South Africa?
Since Thursday 26th of March, South Africa has been under lockdown in a bid to contain the country’s COVID-19 spread. Since the beginning of May, the country has gone into Level 4, giving more freedom to the communities, but still with very strict rules to respect in order to overcome the crisis. Level 3 has been announced at the beginning of June, meaning that some businesses and shops have been able to open again.
How does Loubie organise herself with the crisis?
“I have been able to communicate with my stakeholders, running face to face workshop as possible, having to rethink their objectives, how to engage them in Business Food, how to rethink face to face interaction.”
She is considering doing online workshops and follow up with her stakeholders. Her income generation capacity has suddenly changed, she has the option to rethink her way to earn money as she says that her financial model wasn’t that efficient. She is preparing the material she wants to share through her workshops and she also wants to become a consultant to be more sustainable.
Which kind of support does she have?
“No specific support from the government. I was working with the Western Cape Government on a project, it was the beginning of a partnership to introduce indigeneous food to schools, university and education. It was stopped because of the crisis. With Oribi Village, I had a meeting in order to see how things can shift, which are her business’s perspectives, etc.”
What are the perspectives for the post-crisis to Loubie’s point of view?
“A lot of things will change, very quick responses have already emerged, and it’s really interesting for her business to see the effect there will be on the food system. It will be a challenge to make sure that the current situation doesn’t favor the corporate and the supply chain. We really need to be vigilant, having really quick responses against hunger and the struggle of people. Watch actually the policy regulate all the food business and the food ecosystem. It’s going to have a massive impact on the informal side of the food system. She’s been impressed how people organized themselves really quickly (redistributing food, Cape Town together …) to tackle all the issues. We are still far from solving everything, but there is a lot of energy deployed to tackle the problem. A kind of intelligence has to be approached, in order to know how we carry on feeding people.”
Which message of hope is she willing to share?
“We, as people, and the way we have pulled together in this time of stress, has to continue after the corona crisis. It is so positive to see that humanity can rise in a time of need. We can start to break some of the divisions that are still so strong in South Africa, we can make some changes, which are really needed. Some of our differences can be less at a time like this.”
Do not hesitate to follow her on her Facebook Page and on Instagram @makingkos
