Zuko Nokele(23) manager at Polani Tavern and a self-taught graphic designer will be hosting an event on Heritage Day whose aim is to uplift local artists and unite the community by creating memories that will last forever. The event will be hosted at Lusikisiki, Dubana A/A.
The idea of the event is to combine various forms of art in one place, allowing young creatives to showcase their work, learn from each other, expose them to the community and inspire young creatives to generate new ideas.
“Our primary vision was just to combine and push the artist we have locally, and the idea escalated to inviting other forms of arts and culture to diversify the day, I see a beautiful colorful day where everybody is in their best mood, comfortable wearing traditional attires of their choice,” says Zuko.
The collaboration between ELALIN CLOTHING AND POLANI TAVERN is that as a brand we aim to get exposure through the event, show off the quality brand simultaneously showcasing African talent and inspire youth to adopt African clothing and culture. “ELALIN CLOTHING was founded in 2020 by my now business partner, Sisa Mc-claen Ndala, a unique brand that drives to unite Africa and the world through clothing apparel,” explains Sanelisiwe Mdiya.
He further explains that the inspiration behind the apparel came from the idea that most people especially South African people come from similar backgrounds. The Rondavel logo is a symbol of humble beginnings and African culture. Most African people come from homes with the Rondavel, and still today it is built in many homes and urbanized which shows our people have not lost their identity. With that, it says that we all come from ELALIN, even when living in modern times we are all from the same land.
Zuko believes that as a young motivated 23-year-old manager our education system lacked in teaching us how to find our strengths and weaknesses, which alone blocked us from finding our potential and what we are good at, and that youth empowerment is about encouraging young minds to take action, open their eyes to enable them to identify and execute opportunities.
“One thing I always tell people is experience is the greatest teacher, you will never know unless you try, I respect failure because it indicates that there’s something you did wrong and if you care enough about whatever you trying to achieve, you are going to figure what you did wrong and make it right. I always advise people to rather fail trying than doubt and quit before starting,” he concludes.
