23 Mar 2015

Ms Betty Kophuting, a 32-year-old young designer, who started her fashion business in Jerusalem ward in Moshupa in 2012, says youth should treat challenges as a learning curve.

Trading by the name Latch Investments, the passionate young woman says her art is innate and was enhanced through mentorship at the age of 11 by her mother who used a hand sewing machine.

Latch, according to Ms Kophuting, literally means to realise something, so she realised she had a lot of potential in fashion and design hence ventured into the industry. Driven by passion for fashion design which gives her hope when times are tough, in 2012 she applied for financial assistance from the Youth Development Fund and was funded to the tune of P93 000.

She thanks government for such a positive move, saying Botswana can go far given the fashion industry creates employment, injects income and diversifies the economy.  Ms Kophuting bought machinery and stocks with the funds to kick start the business with the knowledge that fashion is seasonal and one has to keep abreast with demands for each season.

The young designer has a broad base of customers as she manufactures a variety of patterns ranging from Mama Africa, which are different types of African prints to Top secret, which are different patterns of prints in general.

She has customers all over the country and always in a position to meet customer expectations and quotas. She says during peak periods she hires temporary workers to assist her to meet demand but on normal days she  operates on her own. She buys material from Gaborone.

In her endeavour to upgrade her skill, she went to Moshupa Brigade from 2007 to 2009 and then Ramatea Vocational School for a National Craft Certificate in dress making from 2010 to 2011 which gave her confidence to open the business.

Ms Kophuting operates with six electric sewing machines and has four different types of machines; hemming machine, a straight machine, over-locker and computerised embroidery machine. She manufactures clothes for weddings, churches, choirs, private individuals, drama costumes as well as school uniforms.

She says the quality of her products and unique skill help market her products and as such there is no impediment to the business growing. Increase in her product line is an opportunity for growth as her business is diverse. 

Garments such as German, African and Venda prints as well as suiting, among others, are found at her workshop.

She is eyeing using a computerised industrialised machine for mass production to maximises profit. 

She is currently operating with computerised domestic machines but their production capacity is limited to 20 shirts a day whereas an industrialised one can make 20 shirts in an hour and its production capacity is not limited. Festive season and Easter holidays are peak periods for her as there are a lot of church activities, choirs and weddings.

Furthermore, individuals want to look different during these periods, she reckons. She says government helped a lot including periodic business visits by Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture personnel.

However, she is of the view that government should provide land for youth projects or build factory shells for youth to pay reasonable rent unlike private landlords who hike rentals. ENDS