Philippi Village

About Philippi Village

An old cement factory in Philippi has been given new life, re-purposed into an entrepreneurial and recreational/retail hub. The Hub, which calls itself ‘the business catalyst for the Cape Flats', has as its main function to build entrepreneurs in South Africa, something the World Bank has suggested South Africa desperately needs.

The R120 million Hub, which had already leased over half of its office space before it was completed in mid 2015, was built within the old five-storey cement factory. Within its walls is office, event, conference and meeting space for the businesses and non-government organisations who rent here. There is even a college, and an on-site creche to accommodate working parents.

But Philippi Village is more than its business Hub. In January 2016 a City library relocated to the building's ground floor, bringing over 5000 library users, and feet to the area.

Down one side of the village is the Container Walk, a series of shipping containers that works hand-in-glove with the incubation of entrepreneurs by supplying local artists, designers and small business with innovative retail space. The initial 54 containers were filled so fast that Philippi Village introduced a further 72. The aim is to make it the largest container walk in Africa - a unique shopping experience for those who visit here.

Before operating from Philippi Village's container walk many of the businesses used to work from home, struggling with lack of space, and often the need to separate working life from home life.

Visit to sample the Department of Coffee's brew. This is the only township coffee shop. And the shipping container shopping mile is equally exciting. Before working out of these containers businesses worked locally from home, struggling with space and work/life balance. Many of the entrepreneurs get reduced rental for signing up for a business course at The Hub.

By its first birthday anniversary The Hub published that it had created 66 permanent jobs, 284 temporary jobs, and hosted 15 events at its conference centre.

Also visit: 2nd Take Clothing, Afri-Can Cafe, Ethical Co-Op, Haute Couture Dressmaking, Luv Hair Salon and others. Look out for the small-scale fish farm

Find it: 1 Cwangco Crescent, Philippi, just off Japhta K Masemola Road, close to the intersection of the M9 and the M22