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Learning pattern-making, sewing and designing skills ... and then .... employment at fashion company Luspin Production Designs, or opening their own business.
This is the path followed by unemployed women who complete the Stitch 2 Stitch programme that was started by a fashion entrepreneur who is determined to make a difference.
“It’s where we empower women who are single unemployed mothers,” said Pinkie Luswazi Hlengisa, the founder and director of the fashion business Luspin Production Designs.
Hlengisa is worried about the rate of unemployment in South Africa, and is dedicated to empowering unemployed single mothers through her business.
According to Statistics South Africa, unemployment increased by 5.7% since last year. This increased the unemployment rate to 27.7%. Hlengisa has seen the personification of these numbers in her own life.
“Unemployment really affects me. It doesn’t have to be my sibling or a relative. I wish I could help more. It’s painful,” she said.
Hlengisa previously adopted a few children in her home town in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape, whose parents couldn’t afford school fees. She paid for their education and sent food to their houses. She soon realised the issues of the sustainability of this approach.
“I don’t believe in giving people food, I believe in empowering them so that they are able to get food for themselves and so that they can make money for their families, even if it’s on a small scale.”
Hlengisa recently relocated to Cape Town from the Eastern Cape and has since made strides to grow her business to create the impact she envisions.
As soon as she moved to her current home in Mandalay, she began scouting for institutions where she could do a business management course.
She applied at the University of Stellenbosch Business School and recently completed the Small Business Academy development programme with the highest mark overall.
“I tried my best to apply whatever we have been taught while studying, especially when it comes to finances and doing our financials and income statements. Such things I would outsource to accountants and you pay a lot for that.
“More than anything else I’m very passionate about imparting these skills, so whatever I’ve learnt I always impart the skills to employees and trainees.”
Hlengisa started her business almost 20 years ago after she had to go back home and take care of her mother, who was sick at the time.
“I’ve been very passionate about this [but] I used to do it as a hobby. When I moved home in 1998 that’s when the business started.”
Hlengisa also runs the Cape Town branch of the skills training programme called Stitch 2 Stitch where she is a project manager.
“Most of the [participants in the programme] are from the local townships like Nyanga, Khayelitsha, Mandalay and Paarl. There are ladies from Paarl who travel every day for it.”
The training programme has a class of 10 women every three months. The team at Stitch 2 Stitch is still working on generating funds to grow the programme to accommodate more people at a time. Hlengisa does most of the training, which involves sewing and various craft skills.
“I volunteer to do that because it’s my passion and it’s not like we have funds to do this, we don’t we get it in between our businesses.”
Pumza Temba is a training assistant at Stitch 2 Stitch. She helps with computer skills and garment construction but started out as a trainee in 2016.
“When I joined Stitch 2 Stitch I never saw myself as a business person, but afterwards I managed to think about running my own business. I love helping others so being part of the programme as a facilitator is helping me to get more experience so that I can train women in my own community,” said Temba.
Temba has three children. Her 18-year-old daughter will be starting her first year of university next year and her youngest is seven years old, and is completing Grade 1.
“I am so proud of her dedication and passion to be a positive effect to her local community. She became the best trainee and a class rep in her group and then she volunteered to help me because she still needed to grow and learn more about the industry,” said Hlengisa.
She sees empowering unemployed people as an investment.
“I’m passionate about empowering other people. Some of them are running their own businesses now.”
In the near future she hopes to be have business partnerships with the women she trains. She has already started creating a small network in her community.
“Since I’m in a small space at the moment I’m not able to do certain parts of the production. I have to outsource. Pattern making for instance – I outsource it to Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s department of textiles. My neighbour does my bulk production and I focus on my sampling.
“We are still looking for funding so that we are able to help as many women as possible. Now we are only able to help 10 at a time.
“Our vision is to design and sell our fashion apparel while we empower the community through skills development. What I want to see in the near future is a business, in as much as it generates sales, but it must be business that is literally solving a problem of this unemployment issue. I want to see that in a bigger context.
“It’s frustrating when you see kids who have potential but aren’t able to pursue studies and when you find out its actually the mother who is unemployed, or the mother is sick and living on a grant and there are six children in the house and they are all unemployed, it really touches my heart.
“I don’t believe there should be so much inequality.”
