Pusoetsile turns hobby into lucrative business
Chakalisa Dube | Tuesday September 27, 2022 13:26
Trading as Jay’s Creative Hub, Pusoetsile's business is located at her parents’ home in Aerodrome.
Her business, established in late 2020, manufactures unique storage baskets. The baskets are made using a material called macramé: recycled card boxes, glue sticks, and fabrics.
Macramé is a material often used in wall hangings, plant hangers, jewellery, purses, and even clothing items. The baskets are also given a finishing touch using paint.
In addition, they come in different sizes and some of them are customised. The baskets are mostly used to store laundry, towels, and baby toys among others. Some of her ancillary products are make-up headbands, pillows, and hair drying towels.
“I first came across the concept of making baskets using fabrics on youtube during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. The idea fascinated me. I experimented and later resolved to turn it into a business. It was initially a hobby to me,” she said.
She added, “ I was also driven by unemployment to start the business. I had just completed my two-year government internship and job opportunities were very scarce.”
Armed with a first degree in Marketing from ABM University, Pusoetsile received funding from the Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture to expand her business last year. She was funded with money amounting to P63,000. The bulk of the money went towards buying sewing machines. She explained that some of her products are handmade while others are sewn using machines.
The mother of one stated that she is impressed with the level of support her business has received since its inception.
“The business is doing fairly well although I do face some challenges. Most of my customers are outside Francistown. They come from as far as Gantsi. People are mostly impressed with the high quality of my products and the prices I offer. I have also done a lot of marketing through social media and word of mouth. I also get clients through recommendations.”
Pusoetsile has also attended various expositions such as the popular BITC-backed Pusha BW Expo in a bid to market her products.
The sky is the limit for the youth as she has now set her sights on expanding her business further to start supplying shops, hotels, and supermarkets with her products.
“I see a lot of room for growth for my business in the hotel industry. So far, the only shop that sells my products is the ‘Local Store’ in Mahalapye. There is a need to penetrate other shops because the market for my products is still wide open.”