05 Jan 2017

Ms Onalenna Mosenki (31) is one of the Youth Development Fund (YDF) beneficiaries who works effortlessly to build up herself a positive image despite the challenges she is faced with through her journey into fashion design industry.

She has a satisfactory clientele from Francistown and other areas in the vicinity.She emerged victorious at the nationals under Dressmaking category in last year’s Presidential Arts Competitions.

Moreover, she also got the first position in the last Gender Affairs Northern Women’s Exposition under the category of Garments level 1.

Clearly one can draw a conclusion that Mosenki is causing reputable waves in the fashion design circles, doing work for celebrities and high profile events has almost become natural for her.

She has dressed several beauty contestants and has also been engaged to design Bot50 merchandise for Botswana’s Embassy to Zimbabwe.

Her journey into fashion design industry can be traced back from 2013 through the YDF assistance and though she continues to enjoy a spectacular rise, she does not hide the fact that when she started she was faced with an uphill battle.

“When I first started this project, nothing seemed to move the way I wanted, while waiting for funding I had to use my savings so set a foot on the ground. It was not a walk in the park, I was almost running at a loss,” she said.

Ms Mosenki said although she was left counting losses at her first trial, she never thought of quitting; instead the pain she endured was more of a learning curve.

The memories of how she surpassed the challenges she encountered are still vivid in her mind. She noted  that it was through exercising patience and allowing advice from other designers that made her realise the potential in her.

“It was never easy, but the patience I exercised throughout was a stepping ladder that gave me hope and made me keep sailing,” she said.

Ms Mosenki pointed out that patience is one of the essentials in her business project, especially that she deals with diverse customers who easily change their minds.

Although she first started designing clothing for females, she has also introduced males clothing, wedding gowns and several others so as to shore up her business and meet the demands of her diverse market.

Ms Mosenki further said to have her own business was an opportunity she could not afford to lose. ENDS