And it is this culture of community and enlightenment
that has earned Maboneng its place in these pages.
This is not just some random commercial development – although obvious business acumen sits at the
very heart of the thing – it is more than that. It is a place
where people walk between the buildings, where they
sit and talk and eat and drink and laugh - inside and
outside the buildings, it is a place where – right in the
heart of the city – people live … and have a life.
“With developments of this nature where we are trying to create a multilayered, integrated, mixed income
neighbourhood - it is important to
consider integration, particularly the
integration between the new and the
existing community.
And while most of the buildings we have
redeveloped have been empty or partially occupied
spaces, we always needed to consider our effect in
the area. With our community initiatives we focus a
lot on education and opportunity. By providing
opportunities (mostly for the children) through our
various community and social initiatives, we can
ensure that the net effect we have in the area is
always positive.”
Made in Maboneng, our local buying initiative, is
possibly the best way to explain this. With Made in
Maboneng, wherever possible, we ensure that
products and services are sourced within a 5 km
radius. This way, we not only reduce our carbon
footprint drastically but we also boost the local
economy, provide work and create opportunities for
the people who we live and work with.”
When you build a community from scratch in a place
where previously there was little or nothing it does
have both economic and social impacts:
“The most obvious is economic
impact is tourism. Maboneng creates
a viable tourism opportunity in
Johannesburg.
It contributes toward making Johannesburg a tourist
destination, which brings money into the country and
into the city and into the hands of the people who live
here, who work here and who have created
businesses and lives here.”
“For us, Maboneng is all about
entrepreneurship. All our retailers are
independent owner operated new
businesses and the companies that
have started to move into the area
are all entrepreneurial enterprises.
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