Monkeybiz: Beadwork Turning Cape Town Township Women Into Working Artists

Founded in 2000, Monkeybiz is a non-profit social enterprise that has empowered more than 450 women beaders from under-resourced townships around Cape Town, including Khayelitsha, to earn an income from traditional beadwork made at home around childcare and family duties. Monkeybiz supplies beads and thread at no cost to the artists and pays them on delivery at weekly market days, with every beader holding her own bank account to build financial independence, plus year-end bonuses and funeral cover funded by sales. Over 25 years the craft has been elevated onto a global stage, with the beaders' work reaching international folk art markets, the V&A Waterfront, and celebrity collaborations.