What would you do if you suddenly lost everything? If the business you’ve put your heart and soul into is gone overnight? This question became a reality for many entrepreneurs whose businesses were destroyed during the looting of July 2021.

Alef Meulenberg travelled into the heart of townships like Alexandra in Johannesburg and the deep rural settings of KwaZulu-Natal to follow ten entrepreneurs who built businesses from nothing, nurtured and grew them over the years, only to lose everything during this time.

In The Overcomers Alef provides us with each of these entrepreneurs’ stories – where they come from, what they do, what happened during the looting and how they recovered from such a devastating event. And, importantly, Alef writes about the dreams of these remarkable entrepreneurs and their plans to grow their businesses going forward. These stories about hardship, resilience, determination and hope are the backdrop for valuable lessons for all of us, in both business and life.

Let’s learn from those who have come out on the other side. Let us learn from the overcomers.