Simon Mayson

Simon Sizwe Mayson, 31, lives in Makers Valley, east of the Johannesburg city centre, where he voluntarily heads an array of projects in the neighbourhood plagued by inequality, poverty and crime.

Simon has helped to establish partnerships with local businesses, non-profits, residents and government departments to ignite entrepreneurship in the community.

He also frequently hosts early childhood development workshops for the hundreds of pre-school children living in the valley, and fosters several children and house their mothers in his home in Lorentzville.

Simon says his vision is to make Makers Valley become the "social and creative enterprise hub of inner-city Johannesburg".

He is currently completing his PhD in Resilience and Spatial Justice which, among others, investigate the use of mixed-income mixed-use social housing developments.

Read more about Simon.