Bheki Dube, founding father of Curiocity. Photograph by: Fortune Flank, hen story company
Interview with Bheki Dube
FOUNDER AND CEO, CURIOCITY
Lives in: South Africa
By Phendu Kuta, hen story company
South African entrepreneur Bheki Dube has fused his love for journey, tales, artwork and folks right into a hybrid lodge chain named Curiocity.
Located within the artistic hub of Maboneng and capturing Johannesburg’s vibrant city tradition with its bike-friendly outside areas, a pool, a bar, a rooftop and a spacious widespread space for artistic and fascinating experiences, it will appear solely becoming that Curiocity Joburg, the flagship lodge for Curiocity Africa and considered one of a sequence of metropolis resorts, would supply a hybrid providing to attraction to digital nomads, the native startup scene and native and worldwide vacationers, alike.
But, when founder Bheki Dube created Curiocity Africa, hybrid resorts had been just about unparalleled on the continent. Accommodations that mix the normal lodge mannequin with co-living and co-working areas in addition to cultural immersion, the place friends can stay, work, eat, drink and socialise multi functional house had been an anomaly. Because of his early work as a information, telling the story of the realm, Dube knew there was a gap.
His experience-led resorts mix these beginnings as a strolling tour information, impressed by his grandmother’s love of storytelling, with an intent to spotlight vital areas and folks inside the cities the place the resorts are positioned.
“So far as I can bear in mind, my grandma would inform all these tales of Africa. And it’s about persevering with with that legacy and saying, ‘How do I take advantage of Curiocity as a car to share the innate tales of Africa?’” Dube stated.
This imaginative and prescient is mirrored within the experiences provided at Curiocity areas. Whether or not in Johannesburg, Cape City or the Cradle of Humankind, friends can anticipate curated actions akin to dawn energy hikes, journey outings, and sound journeys. These experiences are designed to make sure that every keep is exclusive and immersive.
After launching the primary Curiocity in 2013, in Johannesburg, at solely 21, Dube confronted vital challenges because of his restricted enterprise information and foundational assist.
He defined: “We’re not sometimes born right into a wealth of mental property the place our mother and father are discussing enterprise and offers. I wasn’t born into that. Some individuals had been. Rising above the established order and growing this mental property to have interaction at a excessive stage is a problem in itself. It requires learning and making use of information methods that inform you on that. Negotiating your phrases and existence in such areas is intellectually difficult. Ultimately, once you achieve these conversations with builders, funders, and others you pitch your idea to, you ask, ‘How will we then fund these concepts and ideas?’”
For the reason that Curiocity enterprise mannequin was distinctive in South Africa on the time, Dube struggled to persuade risk-averse funders that it was a worthwhile funding.
“Funding devices are very narrow-minded. They solely need to fund mature merchandise, manufacturers, or markets which have already reached maturity. Elevating capital for brand new markets in hospitality and journey was fairly a problem,” he elaborates.
In the end, the standout high quality that attracted traders to Dube was his ardour. The teachings he gained in his foundational years from his grandmother, akin to onerous work and exhibiting up, in addition to attracting the proper traders along with his ardour, having the proper mentors to information him, and establishing a robust company governance construction inside his workforce helped him overcome the preliminary hindrances to establishing a rising enterprise.
A decade later, Curiocity has grown to incorporate seven hybrid resorts beneath its umbrella, together with Curiocity Joburg and Inexperienced Level, together with 5 managed properties.
In Johannesburg, these properties embrace Fox Road Studios and The City Fox, whereas in Cape City they characteristic Salts and Salty Cracks, and Farmhouse 58 within the Cradle of Humankind. All these areas are centrally positioned and emphasise the Curiocity model ethos of experiential stays.
Moreover, Dube and his workforce are set to open one other branded lodge in Cape City’s stylish hub Kloof Road in July 2024, together with their new head workplace, which can also be positioned in Cape City.
Central to Curiocity’s strategy is a storytelling component that comes by guided excursions, dynamic in-person and digital experiences, in addition to collaborations with creatives which are fused into the experiences and the areas. Reflecting on that artistic synergy, Dube talked about a mural within the Inexperienced Level house, titled Removed from House.
Curiocity Inexperienced Level in Cape City
“For those who have a look at the mural on the primary aspect [of the property], we labored with a outstanding South African artist, Atang Chikare. At face worth, you’ll see lovely paintings, however once you begin to learn between the traces, the components you see on the facade signify the roads that lead us residence since Curiocity is residence to many world residents that stick with us. It was becoming for such a outstanding artist to create significant murals with us.”
“While you have a look at the work, you’ll see that it seems to be like a map of the London underground or the subway within the US. Totally different locations which have several types of transport methods that join them collectively from one neighbourhood to the opposite. It additionally seems to be like a neighbourhood itself. So it’s meant for individuals to really feel like they’re in their very own neighbourhood in a roundabout way or the opposite. And Curiocity being a spot that’s in each Joburg and Cape City, it was a approach to join them as buildings the place individuals come to really feel at residence when they’re removed from residence,” Chikare, additional commented on his work.
Believing that we’re all descendants of African griot storytellers, writers, and poets, Dube’s calling is to attach South Africa and the African continent by experiences, utilizing Curiocity as his car. Thus, the storytelling in Curiocity’s areas, mirrored within the artwork, literature, and decor, signify the African expertise.
“In a few of our widespread areas and rooms, we supply literature from Chimurenga in Woodstock. We may have gone to any bookstore, however we selected to spotlight vital areas and folks inside Cape City, particularly from the black perspective. When friends choose up a e book, they may marvel the place it’s from, and we inform them about Chimurenga, encouraging them to go to, purchase souvenirs, or participate of their programmes. Even our furnishings is sourced from native makers to make every Curiocity expertise distinctive.”
Moreover, the model not too long ago collaborated with the 2024 Worldwide Public Artwork Pageant hosted by BAZ-ART to host 20 artists in Cape City. Dube’s workforce additionally participated in activating road artwork excursions for the week-long occasion.
“These collaborations are key to Curiocity’s success. Any lodge generally is a lodge, however our partnerships with native creatives and storytellers make us stand out. Curiocity may be very experience-led, which means friends don’t simply keep in a lodge room; they immerse themselves within the neighbourhood, guided by native storytellers who share the narrative of the realm and the nation.”
The upcoming Curiocity Kloof Road will inform the story of its space by murals and paintings, with plans to collaborate with South African graffiti artist, Dekor One. It can characteristic quite a lot of room sorts, together with deluxe suites, household items, female-only dorms, blended dormitories, gender-neutral dorms, and single items, catering to a variety of friends, from younger travellers to executives.
The brand new house will even have communal areas, persevering with Curiocity’s custom of providing distinctive, experience-led stays.
Having skilled his personal challenges linked to restricted information of the business, he believes that tourism in South Africa has typically been undervalued as a topic within the schooling system and goals to alter that narrative by highlighting its potential for social change and entrepreneurship.
Wanting forward, Curiocity plans to broaden inside South Africa over the subsequent 5 years, with the long-term purpose of creating areas throughout the continent. Dube envisions Curiocity connecting key African cities, providing hospitality from Cape to Cairo and Morocco to Madagascar, partnering with like-minded entrepreneurs to unlock regional potential. Focus and strategic progress are essential for Dube, aiming to place Curiocity as a strong and main journey model in Africa.
By emphasising storytelling and significant experiences, Curiocity has carved out a singular area of interest within the hospitality business, pushed by a imaginative and prescient of connecting individuals and locations by the facility of curiosity.
As Curiocity’s philosophy states, “Each nice journey begins with curiosity.”
/hen story company