28 Feb 2017

 After the collapse of the textile industry in Selebi Phikwe some years ago and the provisional liquidation of BCL Mine last year, which left many jobless and struggling to make ends meet, hope has been restored thanks to a young Motswana, Mr Tumi Tselaesele of Pumet Unique Designs.

Pumet Unique Designs, an integrated knitting and weaving facility, which also does ‘washing of jeans’ a method of colouring jeans, is expected to open its doors next month with the hope of employing close to 700 and ultimately creating up to 1 900 jobs by 2018.

The core business model of the company known as CMT, which stands for Cut, Make and Trim, will be to provide labour to cut, make and trim jeans, t-shirts, golf t-shirts and shirts, among other items while the client provides the company with the material needed to manufacture the garments.

The items made at the factory will then be exported to various clothing lines or clientele outside the country for labelling before sale. Mr Tselaesele said there were three main customers interested in doing business with his organisation. These are Pepkor (Akermans, Dunns and John Craig), Edcon (Edgars, Boardmans and Red Square) and Lee Cooper South Africa. He said an agreement was yet to be drawn with the clothing lines and if things go according to plan, production will commence this month.

“The market is ready and we have other potential clients that are willing to work with us. We are mindful of the amount of commitment needed at the initial stages of our project in the sense that we don’t want to overwhelm ourselves.

It is our intension to grow our company at a reasonable rate as we take on more work and this is why we have engaged consultants from South Africa, who are industry professionals and also familiar with Pumet Unique

Designs potential clients and their requirements,” he said. He said the idea was to engage a consultant full time for an initial period of 18 to 24 months to train management and transfer skills to employees.

Not only will they focus on the operations, but advise on acquiring equipment and raw materials. Other specialists have been roped in as well, stated Mr Tselaesele. To date, he said 20 jobs have been created and more than 732 jobs were expected by the end of this month.

The second phase of the project, he said, would see a further 750 joining in and in the last and final phase other 450 jobs are expected, bringing the total to 1 932 by 2018. “It is also important to point out that 85 per cent of employees of our organisation are and will be women.

This will make us one of, if not the biggest employer in Selebi Phikwe,” he said. “Given the current economic situation in Selebi Phikwe with the sudden closure of the BCL Mine, I think it is self-explanatory the kind of impact that our opening will have on the town and its surrounding,” he said.

The venture, he said, would improve the buying power of residents, resulting in a more active retail market. ENDS