Faraday came to South Africa from the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo around 2000. After training as a security guard, he worked in the industry for eighteen years, from 2002 to August 2020. He then decided to start something new and avoid starting another hair salon, that seemed to open on every corner. He set up his desktop computer and speakers on a table, bought a small printer from Makro, and painted a board announcing an internet café.

At first, people walked past without knowing what he offered, so he approached passersby himself and explained that they could print and make copies. His first earnings were R2. Customers came back and told others. DC Internet Café (where DC stands for “Distinctive Choice”) has now outgrown its container. With the landlord’s permission, he is adding rooms for a small barber’s corner and a private space for Zoom calls. Job seekers, students and business people will be able to use it for interviews and meetings.

Competition is intense, with several internet cafés nearby. Customers who can’t get a service, such as colour printing, simply go elsewhere. So his machines must work, his computers must be fast and his paper and ink always stocked. Prices have to stay low to be affordable and to match competitors, so margins are thin. Money comes into his bank account and goes straight back out.

Faraday’s longer-term ambition is to open one or two more branches. He tried once in Epping, where the department of Home Affairs (South Africa’s ministry for population administration) had moved and people were struggling to print documents. But he could not get electricity at the industrial site, and the approval process with the City of Cape Town was too long to pursue.