Youthful shoe-makers battle for survival

With political affiliation being a major determining factor regarding who benefits from a share of the national cake, Zimbabwe continues to lose out on potential foreign currency as youngsters with the necessary skills and energy to revamp the economy are sidelined for political reasons.
A Marondera-based youth and shoe making cooperative is a case in point. Started in 2008, the three-member co-op continues to lose out on lucrative contracts due to lack of equipment.
Abel Mbwana, Ostin Makandanji and Wellington Chaperuka harnessed their shoe designing and manufacturing skills so much that their product attracted huge orders from both the local and regional markets.
We presented samples of our product at Walk-Tall and The Shoe Centre in Harare, who in turn asked us to provide them with 58 pairs each as initial consignment. We lost out on the potentially lucrative deal as we failed to secure enough materials and our only working domestic duty sewing machine could not meet the demand.
The shops appreciated our product since we used genuine leather and lasting sole material, and our shoes were skillfully designed and tailored. We approached TLM General Dealer of Pretoria, South Africa, with samples of our product. The company was also impressed with the product and asked us to provide hundreds of pairs of shoes for both sexes. Like the Harare deal, nothing materialised as we again failed to raise capital for the contract.
Currently, we are struggling to meet demand for nurses shoes at Marondera Provincial Hospital and children from local schools. Individual residents place huge orders for shoes at our cooperative as they realise that we manufacture a quality product.
Despite the huge and potentially lucrative orders, we continued to live from hand to mouth as we were operating at below capacity due to poor resources. In any given month orders from clients would stand at around 600 pairs, but due to economic constraints we can only make about 20 pairs, said the youngsters.
Marondera Mayor, Farai Nyandoro, who once visited the cooperative, said he would assist the youths to draft a project proposal and forward it to the Constituency Development Fund Committee for consideration.
I am strongly convinced that the shoe-making youths should be assisted realise their entrepreneurship ambitions. They are a competent group in a venture capable of creating dozens of job opportunities for the jobless in the town. I hope they can be catered for in the second phase of the CDF project. Their dream should come true, said Nyandoro.
MDC-T councillor, Johannes Razunguza, of the ward to which the enterprising youths belong, said he had approached potential donors regarding the project, but nothing tangible had yet materialised.
This venture is a potentially huge foreign currency earner if properly funded. Any investor would do the youthful business people and the shoe industry an invaluable service through funding the project, said Razunguza.
To get the project going, the cooperative needs a heavy duty straight sewing machine, post machine, skiving machine and a sore pressing machine costing in the region of $3 500.
We failed to access government youth projects loans at the Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe (CBZ), since we did not have a guarantor with an account at the bank. The loans are processed through the Ministry of Youth Empowerment and Employment Creation, said Mbwana. – The cooperative is contactable on mobile number 0772659972