The small towns you drive through on the way to the big cities have a secret. Our economy is often imagined as the flashy office blocks in Sandton or celebrated startups in Cape Town. But the secret is that the essential parts of the South African economy spring from towns like Arniston, Louis Trichardt and Empangeni. 

Far from being dead towns and retirement villages, these places are the lifeblood of the country’s economy. In a small watchmaker’s workshop, at the brick-layer’s construction site or in a canteen in a seemingly sleepy town.

Entrepreneurs here are building the small economy and in turn making the ‘big’ economy work. These are the stories of small town South Africa, of people who choose to make it work, where they are, with what they have.