Survive

Pepkor's FoneYam phone rental service has grown to 2.3 million users, but customers end up paying almost double what the phones actually cost in cash.

January school expenses are squeezing household budgets, leaving families with even less money to spend on food at the start of the year.

Soweto residents are joining funeral grocery stokvels to help with the cost of feeding mourners during funeral preparations that can last up to two weeks.

Amandla Nozewu from Humansdorp turned just R200 into a wig washing and making business that is now her only source of income for her survival.

A Cape Town widow started selling umphokoqo at a taxi rank to support her five children after her husband died and his pension stopped.

Food prices increased again in January, adding new pressure to households already struggling with school costs, debt and rising living expenses.

A single mother from the Eastern Cape runs a business making posters and CVs from home, charging R50 per poster and R40 per CV.

Twelve years ago, Ockert Du Preez started Caterking with a second-hand laptop and R600 worth of data from a home office with no safety net.

A Komani mother makes up to R1,900 a day selling fried fish backbones in Nomzamo township, refusing to let any mockery stop her thriving business.

A grade 1 teacher at a private school in South Africa sells perfumes to parents and teachers to boost her income after the Covid-19 pandemic.

A Cape Town mother turned to selling fruit at traffic lights after her R370 monthly grant stopped and she needed to feed her two children.

More than 1,500 businesses shut their doors in South Africa in 2025, new Stats SA figures show.