Nelson Makamo and Laduma Ngxokolo team up for online auction

An online auction between visual artist Nelson Makamo and textile designer Laduma Ngxokolo of MaXhosa House recently raised over R670 000 in aid of small businesses in South Africa who is struggling due to the national lockdown.

Nelson is a well-renowned artist with clients such as Oprah Winfrey, who has his work in the background of most of her social media live feeds while Laduma has created a luxury brand through paying homage to the Xhosa heritage.

The special tapestry

It is reported that a collaborative tapestry piece created by the duo was auctioned live on SAve a Business SA – a transparent and fast turnaround financial relief initiative for small businesses. The tapestry went live for a week after it was ‘born’ from a retreat trip to Lesotho a year-and-a-half ago.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_r_y4egKTp/

The first campaign

SAve a Business did its first campaign in collaboration with DJ Black Coffee where he played a live set to raise funds for the financial relief platform. They then received the donation of the collaboration piece from Nelson and Laduma to support the campaign.

“Magazines, restaurants, hospitality and logistics companies are closing with little to no recent income. This is not only an art sale, but this is also a response at an opportunity of hope that our economy will outlive the current national pandemic,” the company said in a statement.

SAve a Business is reportedly offering ten business grants of R20 000 every week. To date, they have supported more than 40 businesses and continue to offer these grants weekly.

Grant criteria is three years trading; R300 000 in annual revenue and two employees with a focus on women and township based businesses.

“It’s been arguably a narrow focus on those that needed it the most but still had a working operation,” they added.

Also read: Trevor Noah talks to fellow South African, Nelson Makamo