Tebogo Molotsi, an inspiring young entrepreneur who went from humble beginnings to co-owner of Stitches Clothing, a 100% black women owned manufacturing company based in Rustenburg, through the support and funding from Anglo American’s enterprise development arm, Zimele.
Funding from Zimele has helped Tebogo’s company make a real difference to the prosperity of women in the local community by providing much needed employment and growth opportunities. Stitches clothing currently manufacturers and supplies uniforms – with protective clothing being their biggest product offering considering the multitude of mines in the area. Tebogo is not currently supplying clothing to the mines but hopes to do so very soon.
Tebogo was born and raised in an extended family. Her and her siblings were all reliant on her mother's domestic worker salary, so finances became a real challenge. As the eldest of four children, a great deal of the financial pressures fell on Tebogo’s shoulders.
“It was because of these financial constraints I couldn't go to university,” she says. “After my matric I had to find work to help my mother raise my siblings. Getting a job so soon after school wasn't easy, and because I didn't have any higher education I had to take what I could, which was limited to admin work. I did a bit of reception work here, data capturing there and ended up doing payroll for a cleaning company.”
Being a dreamer at heart, Tebogo felt unfulfilled, “After four years I felt I had reached the ceiling and left the company. I registered a company with my mother and I started pursuing business. The energy that we invested in the business was overwhelming at times as neither one of us had any business background. Never in my wildest dreams did I see myself as an entrepreneur, but it came so naturally to me, it felt like I was born for it.”
Her entrepreneurial journey has been filled with challenges and sacrifice. “The most challenging obstacle was raising funds for working capital, but it all changed when I came across an article about a partnership between Zimele and The Jobs Fund that offers financial assistance to small businesses,” said Tebogo.
Tebogo received funding through Zimele’s Sebenza fund, a partnership between Zimele and the National Treasury’s Jobs Fund. Sebenza, which means ‘to work’ in isiZulu, expects to create 8,000 new sustainable jobs and support 1,600 SMEs over the next three years.
It was thanks to the Sebenza Fund that Tebogo was able to chase and find her dreams. This was a big relief for her business. Today, her factory now has well over 50 industrial machines including a cutting table, cutting machine and embroidery machine. Stitches Clothing now produces over 300 garments in one day and employs over 40 people, the majority of which are black women from her local community.
When asked about her advice for budding entrepreneurs, Tebogo warns that starting a business is definitely not for the faint hearted. “My advice to those wanting to start a business is to always be prepared, riding the crazy entrepreneurial roller coaster sometimes feels like you are carrying the weight of the whole world on your shoulders. Always surround yourself with good supportive people.”
Stiches Clothing is just one of the over 1885 businesses that have been supported by Zimele over the past 25 years. Over this time, Zimele has helped create over 38,000 jobs. As part of Zimele’s commitment to the empowerment of youth in the South African economy, it has also allocated 38% of its funding to young entrepreneurs.