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The CDI is a craft and design sector development agency with a mission to develop capable people and build responsible creative enterprises trading within local and international markets.
The CDI is a non-profit company with over 20 years of success in developing creative people, small businesses and the craft and design sector at large in South Africa. The CDI is a catalytic agent of change, and passionate about developing appropriately skilled, resourced and digitally proficient practitioners who can successfully leverage opportunities for growth and development.
The CDI currently supports over 6 000 businesses and individual craft artisans in South Africa. Those supported by the CDI range from start-ups to exporting enterprises and are based all over South Africa – from rural towns to urban centres. CDI’s services help these businesses and artisans develop the right product/service for the right market using appropriate business and production systems; and facilitates national and international market opportunities to help them grow.
Accessing our services
The CDI is a not-for-profit company and the activities and support we offer are free or highly subsidised to ensure everyone can have access. To access our services you must register as a member of the CDI. Registration is free.
There is no set starting point in your journey with the CDI – we assist you to determine your current needs and select the kind of support to best meet them. The support we offer is shaped around your unique needs, and hinges on individual consultations and your commitment to seeing processes through.
The CDI aims to help you build on your strengths, and gives you support in areas where you need it. We assist you to grow into a confident and successful creative, continually developing your business, your income and your impact in the marketplace.
Promoting Design
In addition to the services we provide to help designers and craft artisans to grow, the CDI has managed a host of landmark projects in South Africa that have demonstrated the value of design thinking and processes in diverse sectors including healthcare, agri-processing and education – we have shown through these projects the positive value that design can deliver. Working closely with project partners, we take them through a design thinking process to co-design and test solutions. The objective of these projects is to demonstrate the value of design to those involved in the projects, and to create case studies that can be used to educate others and increase the appreciation of and demand for design as a methodology for improving businesses, public service, and the lives of citizens.
THE CDI BOARD
DIRECTORS: Nomshado Twala (Chairperson) | Erica Elk (Group Chief Executive Officer) | Henry Mathys | Howard Gabriels (Vice-Chairperson) |Mandisi Kibito | Margaret Sibiya | Nwabisa Mayema | Rashid Lombard | Paul Slack (Company Secretary)