Adorn Africa Expands Footprint
Cavin Kanoko | Monday September 14, 2020 15:00
Lack of involvement of the youth in the business is slowly evolving with young people taking existing ideas and turning them into profitable businesses. For an example, Tumisang Keobakile Santudu is one such youth who with her knitting skills has decided to open a business in order to earn a living while also pursuing her passion.
Santudu, a Ramotswa native started Adorn Africa in April 2015 when she started making jewelry and bags before diversifying her business to include making African print clothing.
She currently offers services such as designing the African and German print clothing along with accessories made from fabrics and recycled materials such as bottle caps covered in fabric. The business grew last year in February after she received funding from the Youth Development Fund (YDF) to expand her business and also amplify her business’s presence through advertising.
“From a young age I liked making things like shoes, necklaces and other clothing items using anything I could get my hands on like leaves and strings I used to play with” Santudu said, about how she developed the passion to make clothes and accessories which are the core of her business.
She said her goal was to sensitise people on the diversity of the African print designs and how they can be used.
She wanted to dispel a belief held by many Batswana that the clothes were meant to be used during functions. It has becoming something of a norm for people to dress up in African print designs during weddings and themed functions.
She said even though the textile industry has a lot of people who venture into it, she still has an edge over her competitors due to the packaging of her products.
The wide range of products she offers that can be easily adopted for everyday use along with competitive pricing, branding and the quality of her products.
She pointed out that in the past she had two employees who after careful consideration she decided to let go of as they did not meet her expectations in the production line and thus she is currently working alone.
Adorn Africa recently launched their sportswear line under a new brand name ‘Adorn Sports & Fitness by Tumi’ that include track pants, Track tops and bucket hats.