Ethnikids: Diversity in children's literature with Khumo Tapfumaneyi

The books your children read can shape their self-identity and cultural awareness. Join me in conversation with Khumo Tapfumaneyi, Co-Founder and Director of Ethnikids,  as we discuss the life-changing power of diversity in children's literature.

We discuss how Ethnikids, an online children's book store,  is transforming the South African book market by offering a range of inclusive books—from folktales to affirmation stories—that nurture a child's sense of belonging and self-worth. Khumo and her co-founder, Tina Akuoko believe it is fundamental to provide literature in all South African languages. Mother tongue literature can have profound psychological impact on children who see themselves reflected in the stories they read.

In this episode, Khumo also shares her entrepreneurial journey; from overcoming market challenges, to forming impactful partnerships with schools and libraries to promote reading for leisure.  We delve into Ethnikids' exciting expansion into book publishing and how they tackle sustainability in their business practices. The Ethnikids co-founders have ambitious goals for expansion into the rest of Africa.

LINKS AND MENTIONS

Sho Majozi - https://www.instagram.com/shomadjozi/?hl=en
Professor Rudine Sims Bishop: https://www.readingrockets.org/people-and-organizations/rudine-sims-bishop 

Transcript

Kutloano Skosana: 0:02

Hello and welcome to Shades and Layers. I'm your Kutloano Skosana Ricci , and this is the last episode of Season 8. Inclusion and diversity mean different things in different parts of the world, and today we get into what this means in the world of children's books in South Africa. My guest today is Khumo Tapfumaneyi, co-founder of the inclusive children's online bookstore, ethnic Kids. Fumane, co-founder of the inclusive children's online bookstore Ethnic Kids, Kh umo and her co-founder, Tina Boateng-Akuoko, are on a mission to affirm African children and nurture their love for reading by curating relevant stories about relevant and relatable protagonists. In our conversation, she explains how their company fits into the literary landscape in South Africa and, indeed, the rest of the continent. We discuss how they pivoted their business to meet their customers' needs and how their success is the embodiment of busting myths about Africans and books.

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 0:56

I'm Kumo Tapfumaneyi and I'm a co-founder and director at a company called Ethnikids, and we are an online children's bookstore that specializes in diverse and inclusive literature in all South African languages, and we are also publishers of a similar type of material.

Kutloano Skosana: 1:17

Okay, first thing, diversity. What does diversity mean in a country like South Africa? Because, you know, most of the time especially for my audience here in the US when they say diversity it's mostly about racial and ethnic group.

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 1:33

What's interesting and I like that you use the US in your example is that there was a very big lack of representation in South Africa. So we have a very diverse population in that it's multiracial, multilingual. But if you look at the mainstream bookstores and you look at the type of books that are found there, it was mainly catering to one type of market, which is largely the white or Caucasian or European descent market. So what we mean by diversity is being more inclusive and including characters that look like the black people, african people, colored people, indian people, making sure that our children are able to see their world reflected in the material that they consume, because it's very harmful to live in a country where you see a lot of people that look like you but when you enter certain spaces they're missing.

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 2:35

That has a psychological effect on children and they've actually done a lot of research into it. There's a professor called Bishop who calls it the mirror and windows effect. So books play and other forms of media play an important role in that they allow you to see yourself and people like you reflected in them, which affirms your own importance, and then, importantly, they act as windows which allow you to look into other cultures, other lifestyles and build a sense of tolerance. So I think it was very important for us to bring that to the South African literary space, because it was glaringly absent prior to us entering it.

Kutloano Skosana: 3:17

No, absolutely, and you know I like that idea of a mirror. So if you can just touch on the type of content in the books, you know what's popular folk tales or modern contemporary stories. Yeah, how are the kids reflected in those stories?

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 3:32

Yeah, so African literature is very interesting in that we're obviously very strong storytellers and that's a multi-generational aspect to our culture and it's been great to see that move into the literary space. So folktales, especially for children, remain popular as a genre, um, but we cater for all types of interests. Um, we've got folktales, comic books, affirmation books are very popular as well. Um, those that affirm um children and help them see the beauty in their skin, in their hair, in their cultures, in their language. That's a very popular category as well. But coloring books, all kinds of books. So we try not to only have one category but have it be as wide a range as possible to cater to different tastes.

Kutloano Skosana: 4:21

You also mentioned language. So there are 13 language groupings in South Africa, but you find that school is in English. A lot of books that are available are in English. How have you navigated that space in terms of, maybe, parents who want to maintain their mother tongue within the house?

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 4:44

That's a very interesting space in that the majority of South Africans, when research has been conducted, have actually indicated that they would prefer to read to their children in their home language.

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 4:56

But we've got a big problem in terms of access to material in our home languages and, as you mentioned, we've got multiple languages and it's a very important focus area for us as a bookstore. We ensure that we've got material in each and every South African official language, including other African languages such as Chisholm, kiswahili, as well as Yoruba, just to be more inclusive, because we've got a very pan-African society as well, and it's critical that parents that want to be able to teach their children the language have the resources in order to do that. So it's one thing to tell your child that it's important to speak your home language, but when they look at the material in their home, it's all in English. But when they see that you even have books in your language, they see the importance of it, they learn the beauty of it and they also get to build up their vocabulary, because there's a difference between spoken language and often what you read. So it's very important that we have a lot more resources available in our home languages.

Kutloano Skosana: 5:56

Yeah, and you know, is that. Is it popular for parents who are parenting, especially in an urban context, to actually seek out this material, or do you find that you're still selling a lot more English language books?

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 6:08

I would say it's a mix. So we've got parents where representation from a racial perspective is important to them, so they would like the characters to be African, but not necessarily have the language be a home language or vernacular. And then you've got the flip side, which are parents that for them the importance is in the home language, and we aren't really prescriptive in terms of what we recommend. What we make sure we do is we have choice available. So no matter what language you speak, you should be able to access the language. And you will still find parents that would like to read in English because they believe that maybe the child would do better in school, or whatever their reasons are. We don't judge, we just provide the books.

Kutloano Skosana: 6:54

So how would you describe your role as ethnic kids in the literary landscape, like how do you see the deeper meaning of the work that you're doing?

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 7:04

Sure, that's an interesting one. I would see us as little disruptors.

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 7:08

I say little because we are small compared to your competitors mainstream bookstores and chains because that's literally what you're up against in South Africa. But I think we play a very important role in that you will always find your language at Ethnic Kids. Whether it sells, whether it doesn't, it's a principle of ours that we will stock it and make sure that, even if it's one person that needs to read a book, a society or whichever language, they'll be able to find it. So I think we play an important role in terms of access and that it's not only commercial for us, but it's a bigger purpose and it's a bigger mission, as it were.

Kutloano Skosana: 7:44

Tell me about the bigger mission. What did you set out to do when you started this shop? What was your big vision?

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 7:51

Yeah, the big vision was to be able to affirm children, show that they see themselves represented in the material that they consume, know that they matter, and the stories of people that look like them also matter. And then, also very important, to drive the knowledge of our home languages and accessibility to the material as well. So a lot of reasons given for the lack of resources in our home languages is that it's not commercially viable or there's a lack of demand. But I think what we've been able to demonstrate we've been in business eight years now is that people, there's a hunger for it and you need to almost stick it out through the tough times and even if you're catering to a very small population, there is a need for it and eventually we believe it will grow.

Kutloano Skosana: 8:33

Yeah, so what are some of the advantages of being a niche offering in the literary market? I mean, like you say, you're up against your big chains and commercial stores.

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 8:43

I think the big advantage is that we're very clear about who our customer is. We're very clear about who we cater to, so we don't try to be everything to everyone, and that's a big differentiator. It's helped us build a community, an inclusive community at that, and sometimes the person that you think is your customer is not always the person that you think it is, and what I mean by that is we have, like dunnies in Bloemfontein that are buying Sosoto books because their children are studying Sosoto at school. So initially you might not have set out to target that individual, but because of their psychographics and their need, they actually end up being your customer and actually very much belong to your community.

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 9:22

So, yeah, it's great to be niche, because you're very clear about who you are.

Kutloano Skosana: 9:29

Today's guest on Shades and Layers is Khumo Tapfumaneyi, co-founder of the inclusive children's online bookstore, ethnic Kids. Up next, we get into the nuances of the discussion around reading habits in communities of color. We discuss the evolution of Ethnikids over the years and how the business partners have leveraged their opportunities and achieved so much in less than 10 years of operation. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, you know. It just reminded me of this myth that refuses to die that black people don't read, and there's always this example given about one of the big chains shutting down. In Soweto, when Maponya Mall was opened and the big chain shut down and everybody's like oh, here's proof that you know black people don't read or are not interested in literature. Anyway, of course, you're demonstrating quite the opposite, but can you talk to me about how things are changing in terms of just killing this myth?

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 10:29

Yeah, One of my favorite quotes is actually one by an American that says there's no such thing as a child who hates to read. They're only children who have not found the right book, and I think that's the problem in South Africa that we were trying to present the population with books that they didn't identify with, that they didn't resonate with A lot of the big chain stores the one that you refer to, for example, will have maybe about 20 to 25% African stock in South Africa, when it really should be the inverse. You'd never walk into a bookstore in Europe, for example, and expect to find less content from home then. That's just not the case. So I think that's probably an issue and it's a definite myth.

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 11:08

We've seen it. We've been around for eight years. We've got customers. We're still operational, and it's not just us. I mean. There are a lot of independent bookstores. There are a lot of book fairs that are popping up. Soweto has one of the biggest book fairs Abantu. That was around from like about 2016 or so. There's a massive and growing book culture, and I think that's a very scary myth.

Kutloano Skosana: 11:28

Yeah, it is. It's quite damaging actually and I'm glad that you kind of provide a test case. But you are not a brick and mortar store, so how do you foster that connection to make sure that you know there is growth in the market that you're serving Our?

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 11:48

choice to go online, I think, was very much in line with our business model.

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 11:53

So we started out as a subscription-based book service where people could order and we deliver to their home, and then eventually almost got forced into being a bookstore because of the different permutations of South African households so most South African households don't speak one language, but you might find in one household there's a Xhosa speaker, a Venda speaker, and people that were ordering from us wanted us to mix the boxes and it got to a point where it just became too difficult to try and figure out how to work this and we were then forced to allow for customization and forced to have clients then choose for themselves, and that's how we became an online bookstore and we have experimented with being physical.

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 12:31

So we do pop-ups it used to be on a monthly basis, but now less regular where we have book events and children get a chance to interact with authors, interact with other children and really have the stories come alive. And then we had an actual pop-up store at one of the major malls in Johannesburg, which we ran over the December period and was incredibly successful. But that was just before COVID and we learned some lessons that have actually made us shy of being in that space, just because of profitability and your overhead and what have you. We weren't sure that it's the route that we want to go to, but maybe at a later stage, as we get bigger, it might be something that we do.

Kutloano Skosana: 13:05

Okay, and then you mentioned that you work with authors, who are your other partners in this space.

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 13:12

Sure, there are so many. We work with a lot of reading NPOs, schools, libraries all those who really have an interest and passion for literature are individuals that we would collaborate and work with.

Kutloano Skosana: 13:24

Great. So, in terms of schools, what is your role in the education space? How do you see your role in that space?

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 13:32

So the books that we provide are not academic in nature, so it's what we call trade publishing or reading for leisure. So the role that we play in that space would be supplying libraries with material for children to read for leisure, so not academic reading, but where they actually just expand in their vocabularies, reading stories and what have you. And then we also assist school with events, author visits, making sure that especially the kind of schools that we work with, they also increase the diversity in their libraries as well.

Kutloano Skosana: 14:03

So let's talk about you and your team. You say we a lot, so who are you guys? Who are the partners and who does what? How big is your team?

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 14:13

Yeah, so I speak on behalf of many. I have a Tina Akuoko, , and she's my business partner co-founder and we started out as five of us and over the years it whittled down to two, and then we also have people that help us in the business. So we've got two full-time employed staff members, and then we've also got two part-time staff members that do freelance work with us as well. So are two part-time staff members that do freelance work with us as well. So in total we are six and we split our venture between publishing, or editorial, side, and then the bookstore, which is the retail side.

Kutloano Skosana: 14:44

So in the publishing and editorial side, when did you add that and how's it going?

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 14:49

It's gone really well, it's still very small because we're managing our capacity quite tightly. So we pivoted into publishing in 2020, when government deemed books to be a non-essential good and we were not allowed to trade and we had to think about if our mission is to affirm children and make sure that representative material is available to all. Is that only done through reselling books or are there other ways to achieve this mission? And that's how we actually then pivoted into publishing, and we've worked with a well-known restaurant brand in South Africa, wimpy, for four years now. So we mostly do sponsored publishing, and we've also gone on to create a bestseller called Shoma and the Stars in partnership with Shoma Josie. So those are some of our bigger projects, and we've also done a comic book for the Meta Group as well.

Kutloano Skosana: 15:41

Okay, great, and how long did it take you?

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 15:42

to turn a profit as an entity Many, many, many years. I think we only became profitable in year six or year seven. Yeah, so it's been a long road but, as I mentioned, for us it wasn't just about the commercial viability. Us, it wasn't just about the commercial viability, even though we are people from that world and we understand what that means. It's more about the mission and the role that we play and not exiting the industry and making sure that there's a change in how things are done.

Kutloano Skosana: 16:10

Okay, so you mentioned that you are people from that world. Which world is that? What's your background? The world of banking and finance.

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 16:19

So we're not literary people in that sense, but we were moms who had a need and were driven to find a solution for ourselves and others like us and, apart from the bottom line, how do you measure success?

Kutloano Skosana: 16:32

Because this is quite a big project that you guys have taken on.

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 16:36

Yeah. So the bottom line is important and we're happy that we are profitable now. No, of course.

Kutloano Skosana: 16:43

That's without a doubt. Yes.

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 16:45

That allows us to make an impact. It's really it's amazing that we are able to do what we love but also, in doing so, employ people.

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 16:56

We work with a lot of young, talented women and men, but it's really great to be able to young people's lives in that manner and impart what we know and watch them, help us and share their creativity and work with us. And then another thing is about the children. Even if we just get one email from one parent just letting us know the impact that the books have made on their child, that really, really keeps us going and it's really fulfilling to know that you're making a difference, even if it's to just one individual.

Kutloano Skosana: 17:26

Yeah, great, and I have to ask you with regards to two things. As far as your business model goes, you're an online bookstore, which means you've got logistics and, of course, there's also the packaging side of it, and I usually like to touch on issues of sustainability and what area you've chosen to tackle. So how do you view sustainability in your context and how do you try and fulfill your mission?

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 17:50

Well, sustainability is hard when you're in the industry that we're in, because it's basically like a paper-based industry and the packaging is made out of paper as well. It's boxes, the stuffing. So it is something that we are mindful of, and how we would contribute is through awareness and making sure that we celebrate important days like World Earth Day, making sure that children understand the importance of recycling and if, for example, we've got books that we can donate, we're very big on that. We always take part in Mandela Day, which is not necessarily environmental but from a social point of view, we do very much like to give back.

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 18:25

Yeah yeah, we're not as green as we would like to be. We're not as digital as we would like to be. As publishers, we do publish a lot of e-books, but I think that's definitely an area that we would like to grow into.

Kutloano Skosana: 18:37

Yeah, Is there uptake as far as that goes in terms of digital books, e-books, it's growing.

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 18:43

It's a lot more economical, but the restrictions are certain that you need, for example, data in order to access the books, so that's why it doesn't have the reach that it could possibly have. But I think going forward there will be a lot more uptake. And then it also gets difficult a lot in terms of protection of intellectual property. That's another challenge in that space. So where it's sponsored publication and or sponsored publishing and the restaurant or the entity doesn't mind people having free access to it, it works quite well. But where it's commercial in nature, it gets a little bit tricky. But it's definitely an area that we're interested in and always keen to explore.

Kutloano Skosana: 19:21

Okay, yeah, that would be fun actually. So when you look at the next five years for your company, what do you want to achieve in that timeframe? We have such big dreams.

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 19:34

A big one is publishing more projects that make our hearts sing, finding ways to get our stories out there. We'd also really like to grow across the continent, so we changed our domain from coza to africa a few years back, and that was really with that mission in mind of being able to serve the whole continent, as it were, and even going global. We would really like to do more visit more international book fairs, make sure that people know how awesome South African stories are and how different they are.

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 20:06

It's not what we've become accustomed to. There's so many fresh voices. We'd really like to be involved in unearthing and giving people a platform. Yeah, that'd be great.

Kutloano Skosana: 20:18

Ethnik ids is an online children's bookstore that affirms African children and cultivates their love for reading by providing relevant stories in local languages. Up next Khumo Tapfumaneyi, co-founder tells us about the mentors who have helped her on her path to success. We also get into the shades and layers rapid fire, as well as her aspirations for the future. So let's talk about your entrepreneurial journey. Is entrepreneurship a stumble upon for you or something you've always wanted to do? Sure, that's interesting.

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 20:49

I think it's something that I'd always wanted to do, but this particular venture was stumbled upon in that we did it. It was like a group effort and then you end up, oh, like, really passionate about what it is you're doing. So, yeah, it's been an interesting journey. It fits me very well the kind of personality that I have self-starter don't really like rules much. That's a great thing about entrepreneurship freedom to be and create what it is that you want to. So I have really, really enjoyed that. I'm also a very goal-driven person and it's been wonderful to watch this entity grow. Yeah, and I don't think I'd be an entrepreneur if I was doing it by myself. So my partner, Tina, and I I think the two of us make a perfect person, if I can put it that way.

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 21:34

We're very different in terms of our strengths and our weaknesses, and it's been a wonderful journey because of that partnership, and it's gone much deeper than even just the business. I mean, yeah, we're basically family now.

Kutloano Skosana: 21:45

Our husbands are friends. Our kids are friends.

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 21:49

I think that's also made it very enjoyable, that it doesn't feel like work.

Kutloano Skosana: 21:53

Absolutely yeah. Once you find a good partner, that's when the magic happens. Yeah. And what about literature? Has it been a passion of yours, or you just got concerned when you started being a mom?

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 22:06

No, I think I'm definitely a bibliophile. I've always loved reading. Gaping into books, especially African literature, is something that I've always been passionate about. So yeah, it really it just spoke to me. It aligned. I don't know if I would have started a business if I was on my own, is what I mean, but the passion was definitely there. But knowing that there were people to almost help in crafting it and putting it out there made the journey a little bit easier. But on my own sitting down. I would have probably been like man.

Kutloano Skosana: 22:36

Okay, understandable, understandable. And who do you look to for an example, to follow or to support your journey as an entrepreneur?

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 22:45

Oh, we've been very fortunate, had multiple mentors along the way. I've got many friends that are incredible entrepreneurs that have never even worked a day in their lives. I look to them for a lot of advice. Parents, a lot of our friends that were in the business and are no longer in the business are also great sounding boards and great mentors along the way.

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 23:05

I don't think it hasn't been a journey that we've walked on our own, even formally. I mean, last year we won the big pitch competition with Momentum and a big part of that was we received consultation work with a company called Sukume for three months and that was amazing to be able to sit down with people that look at your business, look at all the mistakes that you're making, look at all the opportunities that you can potentially explore and help you just craft those strategies. That was an incredible value add. So, yeah, we've been very fortunate that we've always had these fairy godmothers along the way, and we're also very intentional about asking for help, reaching out to people in the industry that we can learn from and making sure that we get the advice that we need. Yeah, yeah.

Kutloano Skosana: 23:49

Well, that's great. And what is a piece of good advice that you've received recently, let's say and that you put into practice?

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 23:58

Sure, I think a big one has been assessing the type of partnerships that we enter into and the type of work that we do. So just making sure that you're very intentional about what it is that you're trying to do, because I find that as you get a little bit bigger and more opportunities are presented to you, it almost becomes tempting to just go in whichever direction. But it's important to always remember why it is you started and stick to that and grow with that and don't be tempted to abandon your values for I don't know. Yeah. Always remember your know, yeah, yeah.

Kutloano Skosana: 24:33

Always remember your why For commercial success.

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 24:37

Remember your why, basically. So that's been really really good advice for us.

Kutloano Skosana: 24:42

Yeah, great. And if I had to ask you to write a book about your life, what would you call it and why that would?

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 24:50

be premature. I'm not ready yet, but I think potentially.

Kutloano Skosana: 24:57

I would call the book Audacity.

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 24:58

I think it took a lot of audacity to do what we've done, especially given that we didn't know much about the literary world before we started. But yeah, you need a healthy dose of that to keep going and to believe that you can do things differently. And it helps being novices in that we don't know how things were done, so it's been easy to break the mold we needed and to just almost like yeah, create your own path.

Kutloano Skosana: 25:21

The other question in the rapid fire is who would you choose to play the lead actress in the biopic version of Audacity?

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 25:30

It would definitely be Mapaseka Koetle. I know her surname now. I've always loved her. I follow her on Instagram. She's a girl from Blum, or a woman actually I shouldn't call her a girl, but yeah, she's amazing. I saw her in how to Ruin Love on Netflix. And it's so nice to see a person who comes from where you come from, using the lingo from home, so I think she would give an honest portrayal of my journey, as it were.

Kutloano Skosana: 25:56

Great. And if you had to invite a famous Black woman, living or dead, to dinner, who would it be and why it would?

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 26:02

undoubtedly be Miss Oprah Winfrey. She's actually a big reason of why I love books so much. I grew up, like everybody else her watching her between 4 and on SABC3, the Oprah Winfrey show and discovering her book club, and I think she's very influential and has served the space so well and I'd really love to introduce her to what's happening in the children's book space in South Africa.

Kutloano Skosana: 26:28

Great. And if people want to work with you, partner with you, where can they reach you?

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 26:34

They can reach us on Instagram. We are very social on social media, so they're welcome to slide into our DMs, even on TikTok, and we're also reachable via email. They can email inquiries at ethnickidscoza. We strive to be responsive Great.

Kutloano Skosana: 26:49

Is there anything else that people should know about you or ethnic kids that maybe we didn't touch on?

Khumo Tapfumaneyi: 26:56

They should support us if they can. You don't have to always buy books if you're not a parent, but if you buy for your nieces, buy for your nephews. We need to really keep the industry alive. We need to support our authors. It takes us basically, it's not going to be. There's no one coming to save us, as they say, and we need to show that this is viable. So please do support us where you can. They make excellent gifts.

Kutloano Skosana: 27:20

Yes, I love that, and that is all from me this time around. This is the last episode of the season and new episodes will be coming at you after the Northern Summer. I hope you enjoyed this conversation as much as I did and if you liked it or you think someone else might enjoy it, please spread the love by sharing. If you'd like to stay in touch and expand on the topics covered in this and other episodes, subscribe to the community newsletter. You'll find a link in the show notes. Thank you for listening and for your ongoing support. I'm Guttmanusko, sana Ritchie, and until next time, please do take good care.