Cape Town - Ndalo Media CEO Khanyi Dhlomo, founding editor of Destiny magazine and once head of SA Tourism in Paris, has come under fire last week after she opened an ultra-stylish boutique – with a R34.1m loan from an empowerment fund, the Sunday Times reported.
Dhlomo and her two business partners were granted the loan by the National Empowerment Fund (NEF) to fit out and stock their store in the exclusive Hyde Park Corner shopping centre in Johannesburg.
The 700 square metre store opened this week and carries nearly 80 high-end labels including Givenchy, Stella McCartney, Oscar de la Renta and Alexander McQueen.
Price tags are not for the faint-hearted with a child’s leather jacket selling for R10 090, and a pink baby bib, by Baby Dior priced at R790.
The store is owned by Dhlomo, her mother Venetia and businessperson Judy Dlamini, who is married to FirstRand CEO Sizwe Nxasana and worth R124m through the company Ndalo Luxury Venture, according to the Rich List compiled by Intellidex.
The three are believed to have put in R15m themselves.
Criticism surfaced after the recent opening with Blaque Magazine tweeting: “They [the National Empowerment Fund] give money to the rich to sell expensive clothes to the rich?”
Dhlomo said in a statement that a 10% stake in the company is being held by the NEF’s empowerment fund for rural women entrepreneurs and another 10% for staff across Ndalo’s business units.
Dhlomo and her two business partners were granted the loan by the National Empowerment Fund (NEF) to fit out and stock their store in the exclusive Hyde Park Corner shopping centre in Johannesburg.
The 700 square metre store opened this week and carries nearly 80 high-end labels including Givenchy, Stella McCartney, Oscar de la Renta and Alexander McQueen.
Price tags are not for the faint-hearted with a child’s leather jacket selling for R10 090, and a pink baby bib, by Baby Dior priced at R790.
The store is owned by Dhlomo, her mother Venetia and businessperson Judy Dlamini, who is married to FirstRand CEO Sizwe Nxasana and worth R124m through the company Ndalo Luxury Venture, according to the Rich List compiled by Intellidex.
The three are believed to have put in R15m themselves.
Criticism surfaced after the recent opening with Blaque Magazine tweeting: “They [the National Empowerment Fund] give money to the rich to sell expensive clothes to the rich?”
Dhlomo said in a statement that a 10% stake in the company is being held by the NEF’s empowerment fund for rural women entrepreneurs and another 10% for staff across Ndalo’s business units.