29 Jun 2014

Many people often associate hefty salaries with colourful office work, but it turns out one can make pretty good money outside such fancy fields of work such as lawyers and medical doctors

Take for instance, 32-year-old, Mr Miles Muzawazi of Francistown. Mr Muzawazi is one of those who surprisingly score a handsome income as a sculptor, although he admits that sculpturing requires a lot of patience. 

Giving credit to the Youth Development Fund (YDF) for his success, the young man says sculpturing is definitely not a business for the faint hearted.

And, that being the case, he says his interest in sculptures started way back in 2005 during a craft market activity held in Francistown.

“After the event, I started ordering material such as small stone works from Zimbabwe and that was the beginning of my longtime passion as you can see today,” he says in an interview.

With time, he saw a growing demand for his work and in 2010, he was ready to register a company he called Afridecor Designs through which he sought financial assistance because he saw potential in his it.

Mr Muzawazi says he applied for the youth fund in February of 2010 and was funded within three months of the same year without any challenges at all.

“I think it was because of the fact that my business idea was quite good and unique,” he says, adding that before he applied for funding he worked with the Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) where he learnt ideas on how to run a business.

He says another thing he appreciated was the motivational books they received from LEA, among them “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki.

Mr Muzawazi, who comes from a family of entrepreneurs, says he has never had any interest in getting a job, and, with only a Junior Certificate (JC) in his possession, he has always known that he was cut out for business.

After receiving the money, he continued to operate his business from home while seeking a place of operation. He says he approached LEA where he was required to write a unique proposal that would get him into the LEA incubator building for manufacturing.

“I was tireless and I successfully did as they required because in the beginning of 2012 I moved into the LEA complex in Francistown, which gave me more exposure,” he says.

The young sculptor says he gets old drums from mines, ostrich and cattle bones to make products that include cutlery, key holders, bottle openers, decorating items, table lamps, and trophies.

He is grateful to LEA for organising a Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMME) fair, at Ditshupo hall in Gaborone in 2012, which gave small entrepreneurs more exposure and an opportunity to learn from other business people.

It was there that he also met one of the top brand owners of All Kasi. From that workshop, Mr Muzawazi says he learnt about the idea of trademarks and branding.

The workshop also gave him additional business ideas such leather crafting, which he immediately added to his business.

He says he used the funds acquired from the sculpture business to start the leather business and he uses skins from wild and domestic animals such as cattle, ostriches, crocodiles, hippopotamus, elephants, and buffalo skins.

The young entrepreneur says he also buys the skin and hides from neighbouring countries like Zimbabwe and South Africa. His leather business is doing so well that he gets invited to business seminars in other countries like Zimbabwe and Mauritius. 

He says the regular business expos held in Botswana exposed his products to people from other countries and he mainly supplies curio shops, safaris and lodges and individuals.

His products include bags, belts, shoes, wallets and purses but, like any other businesses, Afridecor Designs has its own challenges, which among others include the lack of a tannery in the country, he points out. 

He is usually forced to take leather abroad to Zimbabwe for tannery and then back, something that usually involves a long process and expencses.

The machine used in the leather business includes skiving machine used to scrape unwanted materials from the leather, while working on it, and flatbed machine for flattening the leather. 

Mr Muzawazi says he has been invited to participate at Regional Trade Shows in Capetown, South Africa, Zambia International Trade fair and the Southern African International Trade Exhibition in Johannesburg in July 2014.

“Business needs perseverance and patience, do not give up. Think big, dream big and I am eternally grateful to the government for paving the way for my success,” he says. ENDS