BEADS AND CHICKEN
“It`s for old people who are bored”
I am a young woman of the age 30 years a single mother of 2 beautiful girls. I have a degree in Human Resource management but most of the South African can`t find a proper job.
I used to live with my grandmother before she passed away, she used to make necklace and bracelet with beads so she taught me how to do beading. I used to hate it thinking that it is a waste of time and it`s for old people who are bored. But one day I made this bracelet and was wearing it in a wedding and many people were asking me where did I bought it , saying it so beautiful , some wanted me to sell it to them .
That’s when I realise that maybe I can make some money out of beading since I can`t find a job so I started asking people what kinds of bracelets they like and I even googled some of the bracelets and how to make them .I started to make bracelet with beads and I asked my friends how they looked and they liked it and it was sold instantly.
People started bringing their order and I was starting to make profit from it. Someone advised me to sell my products on Facebook and I did and more customers came in. The demands started to get higher and higher each time that I hired two people to help me with people`s order. We would have orders from brides and their brides’ maid who wants to wear traditional attire for their weddings. I can say business was booming at that time.
When covid-19 came it shoot us down and we were forced to close down the business since no weddings, parties and stokvel. I was left stranded not knowing what to do since there was no money to coming in. So I saw a gap in poultries since food were scares during lockdown so used all my savings to buy chicks and their grower (chickens food). I started selling chickens and eggs during lockdown and the business started to grow and I had to hire 2 assistant who will be in charge of the chicken and eggs.
2021 things was getting better in the beading business and orders were coming in number and then I re-hire those two women who used to help me with my orders. Now that we are in level one it has been at the peak we are working everyday ever since. In 2020 I did a short course online on sewing and decorations so now we are also doing deco`s for weddings and parties. I can now safely say that I am a real business woman and we are looking to hire more people as the business is growing fast.