Edie Myeza
Founding Director: Boyz to Men Trading, est. 2007
“I never imagined I would live to see this kind of destruction, where I watch the people from the same community I have served loyally, come for my business the way they did. I was in shock as I watched the looting and carnage taking place; seeing the economy go down as people stole from their own. It was heart-breaking.
A mob came and stripped my business of everything…it was left bare. They took our office equipment, including computers, laptops, and a multi-purpose printer. They stole our grass-cutting machines. They even stripped wires. When I think about how as entrepreneurs we work so hard to empower the communities we work in, it feels impossible that what transpired really did. We lost office equipment of more than R50 000 and machinery worth over R150 000.
Our permanent and contract employees are breadwinners and helping hands to their families, and these job losses are already devastating to many.
It is critical to receive funding because, without that assistance, the business will take a very very long time to recover…if we recover at all. We were already adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic, but we still pushed through as much as we could. We were able to run the business even with cash flow problems, but this is something else. I’m already thinking about where I can borrow equipment and other resources just to fulfill the obligations we already have to our clients.”