Eastern Cape Rural Development and Agrarian Reform on Women Entrepreneur Empowerment Award winner

The overall winner of the Sara Baartman District Women Entrepreneurs Awards (WEA) says she aspires to be a fabric design factory owner who is able to employ local people in Makhanda.

Speaking from the National Arts Festival yesterday where she is displaying her products following the award ceremony that saw her also named the best smallholder in the rural development category, Kholiswa Seti of Kholi Designs expressed joy for the winning the awards.

The objective of the awards, which are organized by the Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform (DRDAR) is to empower and honour women in agriculture, rural development and agro-processing sectors by recognizing their contributions and are an instrument through which the contribution of women in food security, job creation, economic growth, and poverty alleviation is recognised.

“The winning of this prize has happened at the time when I have just identified my niche’ market. It was only on Monday when I got great reviews about the quality of my work when I decided to have two pop-ups stalls to showcase my products in a solo marketing venture.

“Just when the excitement got the better of me about this idea, the question was ‘Where are you going to get the money girl?’ So, this prize money will make me pull-off this idea of pop-up stalls and I am grateful. Slowly but surely my dreams are coming true soon I will be able to employ more people and have a factory, thanks to the government,” Seti said.

Seti, who received overlocker and straight industrial sewing machines last year from DRADR, said before the assistance she had only one domestic machine and was working alone but now she has been able to hire someone fulltime and another parttime.

“I call the industrial machine I received from the department ‘magic machine’ because it is fast and delivers great quality while the overlooker is doing wonders,” she said. Kholi Designs produce traditional wear, smart to causal including matric dance attires and
Seti said their designs catered for specific season, adding that she was currently displaying and selling winter wear at the festival.

Seti is not new to winning awards having won the Best Designer range the 2017 Nelson
Mandela Bay Fashion Week.

Bongeka Gebuza (34) of Khanyisa Agro-organics in Ngqeberha was awarded the Youth Special Award for her sterling work in her rabbit farming enterprise where she is performing Honours Degree research about the rabbit manure.

Speaking about her love for rabbits and organic farming, Gebuza said she was “always interested” in rabbits, especially their nutritional value and how to take care of them hence when she was gifted three rabbits, she managed to breed them until she had 72.

The agriculture science honours student in the Nelson Mandela University said her research seeks to look at the soil nutrition where she is planting spinach using rabit manure on one side and chemical on the other one.

Gebuza, who said she casually eats and sells her rabbits, will use the prize money will assist her with buying the expensive feed of rabbits and improve their cages.

“I want to continue with farming, I want more space so that I can let my rabbits to roam around and have more land for my organic production. One day I want to be the supplier of rabbit manure. I don’t have interest in working as I am more interested in entrepreneurship but we need funding for that as young people.

“What I can tell the youth is that; there are scarce jobs but there are many opportunities in farming sector, which was looked down at in the past. They need to explore and start small while looking for funding,” Gebuza said.

All the district winners will compete for silverware at provincial awards they will be awarded DRDAR MEC Nonceba Kontsiwe and later represent the province nationally at the awards in August.

For more information, please contact:
Thozi Manyisana 
Cell: 082 494 3600

Bongeka Gebuza 
Cell: 073 868 7998 and 083 735 8880