Students to sell handcrafted items to raise capital for their businesses

In an attempt to recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown, needlework and woodwork students from the Ray Mhlaba Skills Training Centre are holding a market day to sell their handcrafted items at the centre on Saturday.

They hope to generate income to purchase equipment and pursue their own businesses, when they complete their training programmes.

The centre offers practical training in various disciplines to students, aged between 18 and 25, from disadvantaged communities.

Project director Caroline Ferreira said the students usually generate income from the centre’s partnership with the Boardwalk crafts shop, where their items are sold mostly to international tourists but that channel has been disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown.

“We always look forward to the cruise liner season in the Bay because that is when we get our biggest income-generating opportunity from international tourists who always show great support,” Ferreira said.

She said the students — nine in the needlework programme and nine in woodwork — used the money from sales to buy equipment at the end of their programme this month.

“Because unemployment rates in SA are so high, we encourage our students to acquire skills and be brave enough to start their own businesses, so they don’t have to wait to be employed,”  Ferreira said.

They will be selling a range of handmade items from children’s clothes to bags and mats.

The centre’s Conynham’s coffee shop will be open and run by students.

One of the needlework students, Andisiwe  Mboyi, 25, said the lockdown stood in the way of her making enough money to buy a sewing machine to start her small business from home.

The New Brighton resident said she hoped the market day sales would help them generate enough money to buy equipment so that they could start businesses and provide financial support for their families.

“My plan is to start small, by sewing school uniforms for children in my community and hopefully grow my business from there.

“I know it’s not going to boom immediately but at some point  I would like to create my own traditional clothing line,” she said.

Mboyi said her own business would allow her to take care of her two-year-old child.

The market day will run from 9am to 4pm at the centre in Conyngham Street, Greenacres.

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