By Tendai Chisiri
25-year-old Chipo Mataka emerged winner at the Empowerment Youth Empowerment Night for the 2023 Youth Business Pitch Competition for her project in manufacturing rugs from fabric waste.
The Harare based entrepreneur says how she started her business was an incomplete puzzle. Besides being good at academics, she wished to be good at something else and she craved to find a hobby. She was in a quest to discover her purpose when she started to manufacture rugs.
“During Covid 19 lockdowns, it seemed l had plenty of time to explore and learn new skills. Many thanks to Boldness Mashayamombe who came to the rescue. She taught me the art of rug making. I had to practice the new hobby, l had to find a reliable source of cloth material. I have relatives, who by that time were throwing away their fabric waste. Fabric waste in my mind was gold. Seeing l could earn a living out of the hobby, I turned the hobby into a business. And l finally find purpose to serve my community through my business which seeks to reduce fabric waste in communities whilst promoting and preserving the handicraft traditional skill. Thats how the puzzle was completed”, said Chipo in an interview.
“Most rugs and mats in the market are imported as if we do not have raw materials to make our own. Fabric waste was a choice for me because l got it for free from relatives , so it was a low budget business which required little to no capital to start. Later on l realised the environmental impact of what l was doing and l then started to aim to grow the business so that l could handle large quantities of fabric waste”, she added.
At the moment she only is the only fulltime employee. She subcontract craftsmanship when she gets bulk orders. She says the business is gradually growing in sales revenue. “People are loving the rugs and mats. They now have the power to design their ideal dream rug or mat according to their size , shape and colour suitable for their space”, Mataka revealed.
With the money she won, the business is going to buy machinery to help increase production. As per her fundraising budget, she still have a long way to go so definitely she is going to apply for a loan from Empower Bank to meet the business needs.
Manual labour is their ajor challenge at the moment. Relying 100% on handwork is yielding low production workrate and fatigue.
Her advice to upcoming entrepreneurs is that for them to walk the entrepreneurship journey one needs two legs titled dreaming and doing. ” Have a creative mind and continuously innovate in your business”, she advises.
“Reading the bible its your number one guide to entrepreneurship and also read personal development and entrepreneurship books. I recommend these books, Go Borrow Vessels by Mensa Otibil, The Alchemis, How to win friends and influence people, 5 Club, Why didn’t they teach me this at school and Secrets of the millionaire mindset”, she explained.
On winning the prize money and position, she was not sure she could make the cut. ” I was just praying and wishing to get a prize as funding for my business growth but l was absolutely sure that l will win at least one heart of a potential client and get at least one connection amongst the network of people present at the event”, she revealed.
For her pitch at the Empowerment Youth Empowerment Night, 2023 Youth Business Pitch Competition, Chipo Amanda Mataka, Craftastics Zimbabwe walked away with US$ 2 000 for the first prize, 1st Runner Up Desberia Mutara, Deluxe Rancherd pocketed US$ 1 500 and 2nd Runner Up Enactus -NUST Maggot farming took home US$ 1 000.
Speaking at the event 12 December 2023 , Minister of Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training, Tino Machakaire congratulated all youth who participated in the business pitch and urged the three winners to put to good use the prize money and showcase their business prowess using it as the seed for their future economic prosperity.
“The youth has the energy and innovative ideas to create a paradigm shift in the economic development of our Motherland. Through EmpowerBank and its youth empowerment financial services and solutions, the government is fostering a society in which youth are included and are given the means to meaningfully contribute to economic development”, he said.
“I call upon all youth and youth associations to embrace all the empowerment opportunities presented by government and create enterprises for income generation and employment creation. Furthermore, I implore all the youth to take up empowerment opportunities presented by EmpowerBank and start businesses and livelihood projects. Also, I urge the youth to desist from abusing drugs and substances that destroy their health and subsequently affect the socio-economic fabric of our nation”, he added.
Empowerbank was officially launched by His Excellency on 5 July 2018 for the main purpose of providing the youth with financial services and solutions for economic empowerment. The bank is a vehicle to facilitate youth participation and contribution to the national economic development agenda spelt out in the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1).
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