THULI MADONSELA: A cautionary tale of sister Jenny

The African Continental Free Trade Area is a glimmer of hope for the continent as it tries to chart a recovery from the economic devastation of Covid.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has extolled this agreement as having vast potential to ignite intracontinental trade. If it works as intended, trade on the continent will be less cumbersome — tariffs will be liberalised or dismantled; protective trade barriers will be removed; and licensing will be much easier.

In theory, it will be an African market open to Africans — and it augurs well for new start-up ventures, particularly those owned by women and young people.

Now, I do not want to be a wet blanket about this pact, which partly fulfils the vision of a united Africa spelt out in 1963 by Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana, but all of this is far easier said than done.

For many start-ups, there are risks to reckon with. Newbies who enter these markets are like small fish finding themselves foraging in the bountiful open sea. There will be opportunities, sure — but there is also the possibility of swimming right into the jaws of a predatory shark.

Coming from a country that was isolated, many South Africans lack the open-water smarts to survive

One legal issue that the African Union must consider reinforcing for start-ups is intellectual property (IP) rights.

IP law is replete with booby traps — it was the first subject I failed. If I struggled, think about the Gogo Dlaminis with aspirations of selling their products across the continent.

Take the cautionary tale of Sister Jenny. If you’ve seen the US TV series Self Made: Inspired by the life of Madam CJ Walker, think of Sister Jenny as SA’s (poorer) equivalent of Walker, the first self-made woman millionaire in the US.

The story begins 29 years ago when nursing sister Jeniffer Gael Goldstone created several moisturising creams that relieved various conditions, from muscle pain to serious burn wounds. It took two years of research and trial and error to get the formula right.

Sister Jenny pivoted from nursing to become a manufacturer — not easy, considering that while creams are mainly used by women, men tend to be the owners.

Today, Sister Jenny owns a massage and wound treatment clinic in Joburg, where she does reflexology, and sells her creams to clients. "It has been a long and hard journey," she tells me.

Her company is called Sister Jenny Jen-Til Touch, and the products are labelled Sister Jenny Jen-Til Touch muscle cream, face cream, multipurpose cream and baby cream.

Sister Jenny would hustle to sell the products, posing for pictures with every celebrity or popular figure she could. On her walls, for example, there are pictures of her with Nelson Mandela and with Albertina and Walter Sisulu.

When she was nominated by the department of trade & industry to exhibit in China, as one of a handful of woman manufacturers, Sister Jenny saw it as the international breakthrough she’d yearned for. And she was thrilled when she was asked to appear on Chinese TV.

She was soon approached by the Shandong Good Hope Supply Chain Co, which said it planned to sign her up as a supplier and sell her cream. One day later, the Chinese company registered registered its own trade mark over Sister Jenny’s brand.

Sister Jenny was outraged, and spent three years (and a small fortune) fighting to get her IP back. Eventually, the Chinese agency that deals with these issues ruled against her. To appeal, she needs a further fortune that she doesn’t have. Not only is she losing sales, but her reputation is being tarnished, as people buy the imposter products bearing her name.

While the new African trade deal will open up opportunities, many more Sister Jennys will find themselves swimming with the sharks, with no cages to protect them. Coming from a country that was isolated for a long time, many South Africans lack the open-water smarts to survive.

Our policymakers can’t ignore this risk since, when our start-ups win, we win — but when they lose, so do we. Unless our government has a strategy to deal with intellectual property theft, our fledgling companies are ripe for the eating.