ABOUT ENKOSI KAKHULU

‘Enkosi Kakhulu’ is a brand developed by Erica-Maria ter Hofte.
She developed it to assist black women in the Tsitsikamma area of
South Africa to be economically active. Some of the articles that the women produce include bags, aprons and other kitchen textile products. With the income of this work they can for example finance the schooling of their children.



The people all live in the Tsitsikamma area of South Africa. Places where she works is Oyster Bay, Kareedouw, Eersterivier and Hankey. For her products, Erica-Maria uses bought materials from Black Empowerment Projects, besides used sample books, which she brings with from the Netherlands. Other used materials is also processed like feathers, buttons, cans, flattened beer caps and handmade wire products.

Absolutely no product is the same and they are made by different people. Erica motivates the women to use their own imagination through the choice of different color materials. This means that very different products are produced. Before a product is completed it has sometimes been at three different spots in one area! There are women who paint, others embroider, others work with machines and then there is women who work with beads and wire. Erica tries to involve as many women as possible and to train them so that they can have a better quality of life.