Vendors Of The Month

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The Big Issue’s Vendors of the Month

 

The following vendors were chosen to work on our project because they had been Vendor of The Month in the past year at The Big Issue. To become a vendor of the month, the vendors had to be nominated by their customers. Many of them only speak Xhosa and because of this our team relied heavily on our vendor mentors to communicate with them. Our team became close with these vendors and they have become an integral part of our project.

To show our appreciation to the vendors and mentors we created Vendor Profiles in personal magazines to give to them, they were given to each vendor at the end of our project.


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Jakoef

Jakoef has been a vendor for 12 years and has used The Big Issue to help better his life. He has felt empowered since joining The Big Issue and has never felt like he needed more from his customers. He takes care of his family and loves them more then anything. He does everything he can for his children, including getting them a kitten. His smile is infectious and he loves to talk with people and tell them about how The Big Issue has changed his life.

 

 


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Leslie

Leslie has worked with the Big Issue for 5 years and 10 months. He has been very lucky through life and has found rooms to rent with lovely people who became parts of his family. He now watches over the cats and house of a lady who helped him when he needed it. Leslie is a very kind soul and tries very hard to do things right in his eyes, helping those who need it and visiting people in hospitals.

 

 


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Nolusapho

Nolusapho has worked with the Big Issue for 5 years. She works at The Big Issue to help her kids receive an education so they can improve their lives. Since she has been working, her life has been going better. She hopes to one day use the skills she has learned with the big issue to work in retail.

 

 

 


 

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No-Senior

No-Senior has been a vendor for 3 years. Through The Big Issue she has been able to provide for her family and improve their lifestyles. Because of The Big Issue she can send our children to school. No-Senior loves to smile and has a good relationship with her customers.

 


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Nosiphiwo

Nosiphiwo has been selling The Big Issue for 9 years. It has helped her grow as a person and provide for her family. She loves it because she likes interacting with people and she likes how with her job she gets to talks to someone new everyday.

 

 

 


 

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Steven

Steven started working at The Big Issue to have the opportunity improve his life and gain skills that can be used for other jobs. He is a real artist and his work is inspirational. He attends art classes at The Big Issue frequently and has had customers give him supplies before to continue his work.

 

 

 


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Thelma

Thelma always has a smile on her face while she is with us. She knows that being happy helps her on her pitch. She has been a great help to us in the project, unfortunately she was sick for the last few weeks of our project and was not able to continue with us.

 

 

 


 

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Zoliwe

Zoliwe has been selling The Big Issue for 5 years now. The organization has taught her how to run a business and has taught her skills she can use for many other jobs. Her customers have been very supportive and one customer has even paid for a bus ticket so that Zoliwe could go to Eastern Cape for the holidays.

 

 

 


 

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Zukiswa

Zukiswa has worked for the Big Issue for 17 years. She has encouraged many other Vendors of the Month to join The Big Issue to start improving their lives. She has built her own house and hopes to someday open her own spaza shop.

 

 

 


Continue to meet Chelsea.