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OUR STORY
“Eight is where we started.
Infinity is what we build.”
Our Story
Eight Red Apples began with a woman on a street corner, selling just eight red apples — her entire stock for the day, and her family’s only hope of income. She wasn’t waiting for a job. She was creating one. With almost nothing, she was building something.
That image stayed with us.
It became a symbol of Africa’s quiet courage — the mothers, fathers, youth, and elders who rise each day to trade, hustle, and serve despite having limited access to capital, tools, or support. They don’t make the news. But they are the backbone of our economy.
We built Eight Red Apples as a platform to honour them — and to support them.
Today, Eight Red Apples is more than a name. It’s a movement. A market development agency. A communication and research hub. A platform for visibility, dignity, and local trade.
We connect:
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Entrepreneurs to new customers
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Job seekers to real opportunities
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Small businesses to growth tools
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Corporates and governments to credible local insight
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And everyday people to one another — in the spirit of economic trust and collaboration
Our mission is simple: reignite belief in African potential and make it easier for Africans to participate meaningfully in the economy, with or without a job title.
This is our story. We hope you’ll become part of it.
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Why Eight Red Apples?
Years ago, while walking about in Turfontein, I saw a distraught woman selling only eight apples. She merchandised them over four plates, two on each plate. The apples were red and old.
With eyes full of anguish and distress, she desperately looked into my eyes, begging me to buy.
Her situation pained me, even though I would do nothing about it.
Her sight and her despairing eyes, however, haunted me the minute I passed her by, and every day of my life after that.
Whenever she entered my mind, feelings of guilt would wash over me. To make it make sense, I reasoned that her purpose in my life was to teach me a lesson about how bad things can get despite our best efforts. So, whenever I made a decision, I would question if my choices would lead to me being poor and selling on the streets or growing in my career and income.
Years later, I became her.
Through a series of unfortunate events, I lost my circular job. A few more months later, my shop stood empty but for a few scanty dresses.
As she had done with me, I looked at the few customers who walked in with a desperate hope that they would buy something. They didn't. The dresses had been on the rails for too long. They were the dresses they didn't buy at multiple sales. They were "old".
Had they bought, their money would have allowed me to buy more stock and kick-start my business.
A few months later, I closed the store and started selling my merchandise on the streets of Johannesburg.
Understanding how I got into that position became my obsession. I knew that laziness or lack of planning was not the problem. I am and have always been a hard worker. And I am the type that plans everything.
Finally, while working on the streets, I realised what had gone wrong for me and the woman who sold eight red apples: a lack of customers. People look down on African businesses. They would happily support another, but not the woman selling on the streets.
Through Eight Red Apples, I hope to bring solutions that will help increase the income of informal street traders and small business across Africa. I aim to educate and convince Africans to buy from local businesses.
I also aim to educate children of low-income households about money, so they can set a better life course for themselves.
By:S'the Masia, Eight Red Apples Founder