14 Feb 2019

As an avid traveller, Bandile Mooka collected art works from all corners of the world.

  However, she never thought of using her love for art to start a business until friends pointed her in that direction.

Mooka, who opened a store called Niya Craft at Acacia Mall, Phakalane, spoke of her love for artwork in an interview, saying she even bought some sculptures from locals as a way of showing support to them. To her, success is when opportunity meets preparation and she advises the would-be- entrepreneurs to follow their passion.

“I funded and built my business up, I did not wait for all opposing factors to subside,” she said.

Prior to opening a store, she operated her business from her garage where she did office flowers and relied on word of mouth marketing.

Her business is a concept store as they distribute wines, coffees, gifts and sometimes clients can come and ask for something out of the ordinary and they source it for the customer.

“We also distribute artificial and live flowers for offices, conferences, weddings and homes that is why we have a florist,” she said.

The flowers are delivered for free within a specified radius and they charge a fee for deliveries outside the free delivery radius.  Her company also imports bulk flowers from South Africa and has local florists pre-order from them.

Mooka said they promoted local artists especially the youth as they rented a space to display their work in the shop.

She also said some of the frames she sold were made out of wood, tyres and old items found in homes, therefore, she did not believe in throwing anything away. The bachelor of marketing from University of Cape Peninsula graduate said she set out to show creativity and not chase money.

The Niya Craft store also does corporate events thus they are hired to coordinate events, something which helps them to meet a lot of vendors.

“We sit down, short-list vendors, buy flowers and advise on the cost effective way of doing things,” she said. The store has seen a lot of growth on social media and foot traffic. The company has employed two people and sub-contracted most of the staff like drivers when needed.

 Other than supplying, Mooka plans to venture into manufacturing soon as she recently met someone who helped her to do skin products using fruits like oranges and cucumbers. She also aims to make her own hampers and brand..ENDS