Fikile Magudu (Nozulu School Wear) (Left) discusses elements of her
business and the manufacturing process with Ricardo Barbosa (CEO of NPC and Vice
President for Africa at Intercement) (2nd
left) and Smangele Tshabalala (Transformation Manager NPC/Intercement) (far
right) looking on Ahmed Barmania NPC Procurement Manager and Mbali Sabela (PA
to Mr Ricardo Barbosa). NPC/Intercement has been instrumental in assisting
with equipment and other elements to assist Fikile grow her business, through
its Social Investment programme. Image
supplied courtesy Paul Godwin
Nozulu School Uniforms Pop-up Shop Opens in
Chesterville Township
Many South Africans are looking at 2017 with pessimism
and others may be suffering from "Januworries”, but a local Durban
businesswoman has taken the "bull by the horns" and is only looking
at the positive. With the school holidays behind us, learners and parents
are excited about the new school year, new grades and new schools for some.
Parents spend much of the holidays preparing their
children for back-to-school buying of school uniforms and stationery. Although
this can be exciting it does also put a lot of financial pressure on many
families especially those in low-income communities.
Bearing this in mind, while the rest of us were
enjoying the festive season an amazing and passionate woman entrepreneur
from Chesterville, Fikile Magudu and her team of eight staff were hard at work
manufacturing uniforms and preparing to clothe the learners attending school in
the Chesterville Township and other schools in the area with affordable school
uniforms.
Fikile a mother with two sons who has lived her entire
life in Chesterville, has been in business since 2010 and is entrenched in the
local community. Through hard work and dedication Nozulu School Wear has
become a reality which is benefiting the local community and has local students
proudly sporting quality uniforms of which they and the community can be proud
of.
For this dream to come true, Nozulu has had some help along
the way and she thanks a local company NPC/ InterCement with its South
Africa's Textile and Clothing Manufacturing Project for funding support to
set up the shop. NPC has supplied vital equipment and material for the factory’s
production line in partnership with eThekwini Municipality who provided the
factory space and with the help and support of the Municipality's Cato Manor
ABM and the entrepreneurial development training through its Business
Support unit. The assistance from NPC and the municipality has also
assisted Nozulu in opening its first "Pop Up Shop" in
Chesterville with the aim to supply children and their parents with affordable
quality school uniforms. Situated at number 11 Maphephetha Road / Road
14, Nozulu School Wear is conveniently situated in the township with the
clothing factory situated close by in the Umkhumbane
Entrepreneurial Support Centre (UESC) in Harry Gwala
Road.
Fikile’s journey started from very humble beginnings in
2010 firstly working from home and then from various shops in the City Centre.
Working in the City proved an expensive undertaking and led to her moving into
the local resource centre in Chesterville. It was here that she was introduced
to the UESC program and submitted an application to be admitted into
the program and was accepted. This program offers start up businesses the
opportunity to work from affordable premises and offers training in business compliance,
financial management, human resources, sales and marketing.
“People do not understand or are not aware
of what many companies like NPC/intercement and eThekweni Municipality are
doing for communities and small start up companies such as mine, without their
support it is very difficult for us to make a living”
states Fikile.
Fikile will face a challenge in July 2018 when her
contract expires in Umkhumbane and she will be looking for new
premises for her clothing factory. However based on her current performance –
one can only assume that Nozulu School
Wear will be moving forwards to even greater heights. The pop up store will
remain at its present site.
Nozulu Schoolwear provides school uniforms to more
than seven schools in KZN and is also branching out to the North and South
Coast. This in turn is creating employment opportunities in those areas for
suppliers to supply schools such as Isidelile Seconday and Umzinto Secondary on
the KZN South Coast who are already loyal supporters of Nozulu School Wear. This
is a very good sign and bodes well for Fikile’s entrepreneurial spirit and
vision for her company.
“Without the support of NPC / Intercement and
the eThekweni Business Support, Tourism and Marketing Unit my dream would not
have materialized, they have made my business a reality, giving me the
opportunity to concentrate on growing my business and create employment for
members of my community. It is hard for me to express my gratitude to NPC and
Ethekweni but I would simply not be here if it was not for their
support and guidance. The only way I can show them my gratitude is to
be successful.” Comments Fikile She goes on to say
“I am also extremely grateful to the local schools in the community
that support Nozulu, without their support and loyalty I would not be in
business."
NPC/ InterCement South Africa Textile and Clothing
Manufacturing Project, which aims to facilitate skills development, job
creation and provide development and support to SMMes with a potential to
supply industry. Through this project Nozulu was assisted with materials
and some equipment for the production line as well as totally refurbishing the
pop up shop container which included painting and providing and installing all
the shelving and branding.
NPC/
Intercement wants to support more local businesses that are in the vicinity of
our operations, small businesses such as Nozulu School Wear, and other SMME’s
like this. Discussing Nozulu’s progress with Fikile, I can see the success in
her eyes and obvious passion for her business and wish her all the very best
going forward. States Mr Ricardo Barbosa (CEO of NPC and Vice President for Africa at Intercement)
Happy customers - with the pop up store conveniently situated in the
township, the local community has easy access to affordable quality school
uniforms. Store Manager Duduzile Madonsela serves another happy customer from
the recently renovated container which was supplied by Ethekwini Municipality’s
Business Support Unit and totally refurbished by NPC/Intercement
Image supplied courtesy Paul
Godwin
About Umkhumbane Entrepreneurial Support Centre (UESC)
:
Umkhumbane is a manufacturing incubator operating
since 2001 and caters for a vast array of manufacturing businesses in various
disciplines. Whilst all the businesses in the incubator are 100% black owned
and there is an equally generous mix of women and youth owned businesses
currently being developed through the incubation program. EThekwini
Municipality are the owners of the incubator and are responsible for the
development of the incubates for the period of three years they operating from
the premises.
Nozulu Training and Development has received
assistance from eThekwini Municipality including trainings/workshops, access to
market, access to information. The interventions that were received by her
business as part of business development initiatives include business
compliance, financial management, human resources, sales and marketing.
Ntombifikile has also attended workshop such as Complexities of tax management
that educate business on being tax compliance and including the importance of
financial record keeping in business.
The business has also benefited through on our access
to information programs such as Women Economic Empowerment Conference, Women
Economic Breakfast and Essence Durban Festival Business Conference. She has
been exposed to access to markets initiative, where she participated on all the
regional fairs including South, North and Inner-Outer west. Her business has
also been exposed on one of the biggest city event such as Main Durban Business
Fair and Essence Durban Festival. With the above intervention, Fikile has been
able to grow her business to a greater height and now she has pop up show
selling school uniforms in Chesterville.
Story and photographs - Paul Godwin/Nerve Communications
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