LocationsA Photo Exhibition
Innovation on Every Shelf: DIME’s journey to safer, smarter township retail
October 29, 2025
DIME (Digital Innovation for Modernising the Independent Economy) is reimagining township retail from the inside out. Through women-led community imbizos, spaza owners shape the solutions they need. With the Sphazamisa App, food-safety standards move from policy to practice, giving shop owners real-time guidance to protect customers. Youth digital ambassadors and targeted training bring the know-how to every counter, turning innovation into a daily habit. And as peers across Africa take note, a continental exchange of good practice is emerging.
This photo essay traces that arc —from dialogue to digital tools to learning to leadership —showing how township enterprise becomes safer, smarter, and future-ready with DIME at the helm.
The Sphazamisa App is more than a digital inspection tool; it is a bridge between policy and practice, designed to bring food safety regulations to the ground level. By offering real-time compliance support, the platform helps spaza shops build safer environments and strengthens consumer confidence in local retail systems. One of the youth ambassadors helping a spaza shop owner in Alexandra navigate the Sphazamisa App.
UNDP South Africa
The DIME ecosystem is gaining continental attention as African leaders explore home-grown solutions designed for everyday realities. What began in South African townships is now inspiring cross-border learning, showing that informal retail can be transformed through community-driven innovation, technology, and local leadership. UNDP South Africa hosted Resident Representatives from Lesotho and Senegal on a cross-border learning exchange, demonstrating our local innovation to promote food safety in township spaza shops.
UNDP South Africa
DIME unlocks youth potential by transforming them into digital ambassadors of their own communities. Equipped with skills, digital tools, and purpose, young ambassadors are advancing a model where innovation and social responsibility meet; proving that youth leadership is fundamental to modernising the informal economy and protecting consumers. The youth digital ambassador during one of the community outreaches, raising awareness on the Sphazamisa App.
UNDP South Africa
Across township economies, women hold communities together; feeding families, running neighbourhood shops, and sustaining informal markets. Through the DIME Imbizo Series, a platform that ensures the inclusion of diverse voices in efforts to shape the digital future of township economies, thereby ensuring that technology responds to their lived realities and strengthens food safety, dignity, and opportunity.
UNDP South Africa
DIME is building a network of young community champions committed to supporting thousands of spaza shop owners. Each ambassador represents a step toward a future where informal businesses are not marginalised, but modern, compliant, and integrated into South Africa’s broader digital transformation.
UNDP South Africa
In this township shop, change is already visible. With support from DIME through the Sphazamisa App, the owner has begun reorganising products, improving storage practices, and strengthening food safety standards. For him, this is not just compliance; it is pride in serving his community with care and dignity, proving that innovation has a place on every shelf.
UNDP South Africa
New ambassadors joining DIME are stepping into more than a role; they are entering a movement. With training, mentorship, and practical experience, they are preparing to uplift township spazas and contribute to a safer, digitally enabled informal economy.
UNDP South Africa
Gcwalisa Spaza shops by the Wakanda Food Accelerator embody the vision behind DIME; township businesses operating with pride, compliance, and modern retail standards. It stands as proof that when given the right support, informal enterprises can set benchmarks, not trail behind them.
UNDP South Africa
Before the first scan or shop visit, DIME invests in mindset, purpose, and community understanding. Young recruits begin their journey learning not just technology, but the responsibility that comes with digital leadership, shaping a generation ready to champion safer food systems and inclusive digital economies. These learning sessions have been conducted across townships such as Alexandra, Tembisa, and Soweto.
UNDP South Africa