Masinga Embroideries in Tembisa is one of the small Ekurhuleni businesses that has benefited from a R20-million Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) programme undertaken by Emperors Palace to provide 169 schools with PPE since last year September. Apart from supplying the schools with masks, shields, gloves, aprons, soap and cleaning materials, to keep learners and educators safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Palace of Dreams contracted small businesses and co-operatives to produce the masks for the initiative to help empower local communities during these economically challenging times. Masinga’s was employed to cut out all the materials needed to make the masks and Emperors Palace Trust Administrator, Makomane Ntabo recently visited the Tembisa company to see how the process works. Here Teboho Lerotholi and Cheezy Sihlongonyane go about marking and cutting out the material for some masks while Ntabo (left) and Masinga’s co-owner, Pontsho Masinga (right) watches on. To date the company has cut out material for just under 225 000 masks and has employed a further six staff members thanks to the project. (Photograph by Yolanda van der Stoep)