adminLackson Munkombwe, Features Correspondent
WHILE other men are busy preparing their fishing rods for fishing, Mr Collen Mudenda, a carpenter, is building a wardrobe in the open a few kilometres from Binga Centre.
He is the only carpenter in the deep rural areas of Siachilaba. Before he started his carpentry business four years ago, Mr Mudenda, like so many other villagers in the district, used to catch fish for a living.
“My times as a fisherman were very tough, I could hardly catch a bucket-full of fish in a week and because I had not done well at school, I had no choice than to persist,” he said.
Things, however, changed after Mr Mudenda and other villagers were introduced to various projects by an NGO — Christian Care that imparted skills on the villagers with a view of upping their standard of living and arrest the tradition of relying on them (NGOs) for aid.
“Things changed for the better following the arrival of Christian Care — a Non- Governmental Organisation, in our area with training initiatives to help assist individuals in rural areas to partake in developmental aspects in the communities,” he said.
He added that since fishing was not in him, he tried his hand in carpentry and his fortunes and those of his family turned for the better.
Now at age 40, Mr Mudenda is a proud director of Kwangunuka Manufacturers Co-operation (KMC) — a carpentry shop that specialises in household and office furniture distributing in the district. His is therefore a story that can be best described as that of humble beginnings as Mr Mudenda had known no town lights yet he said he was out to debunk the misnotion that carpentry thrives in towns and cities by starting his business in the rural areas from where he hopes to spread his wings.
He said he lived all his life in rural areas, hustling day and night to put a plate of isitshwala on the table. The married father of four completed his secondary school at Binga High School but did not do well in his studies. At one point, he says he thought of supplementing his O-level but he could not do so because he had no money to register.
“This forced me to stay at home before moving on to marry my wife of 17 years,” said Mr Mudenda.
The company has put much of its energy into manufacturing furniture which includes tables, beds and wardrobes, among a wide range of produced fittings.
“Binga is growing and transforming the community with various people turning from their traditional homes made of poles and dagga to modern houses, hence they need to keep quality property” said Mr Mudenda.
“KMC has since firmed and attracted a significant number of clients from within the district and beyond. The company has established an industry that has not only cut distance to locals who used to buy furniture from Bulawayo, more than 400km away, but also created a state-of-the-art furnishings in the district.”
The establishment has defied odds in a not so busy area but there has been a significant change to the way people are doing business.
“Our aim is to develop this place into a business hub. Initially, the intention was to make furniture and sell to few people in the area, but with the response we are getting we realised it’s not enough to produce a limited range of furniture. We have schools that are always making orders, for chairs, desks and other various materials necessary. Our initial plan was a little divorced from reaching such levels,” said Mr Mudenda.
Kwangunuka Manufacturers has attracted buyers from different areas beyond Binga, who have become major clients considering the quantity of orders they make.
“We are now supplying some of the big retail furniture selling outlets in the district and Hwange. Sometimes we sell our products through big furniture establishments. It’s part of growing our business. Eventually we will be at the same level or better than those who have been in this industry for a long time,” said Mr Mudenda.
“We aim to be major suppliers to different big retail outlets in the country. The company is growing steadily even though the cash situation in the national economy has made it difficult for us to access equipment required for expansion,” he added.
Setting up and developing a business in the rural areas is usually not considered ideal but it remains one of the priorities of KMC.
“We hope that some of our major clients will be willing to invest in us. We need to make our company a big furniture manufacturing industry in the district so that more products are made available to the market.”
Among other things, working capital has proved to be a major impediment. Timber is accessed from either Bulawayo or Hwange and transport costs added together have made it difficult for the company to realise its full potential.
“People don’t have cash. We usually sell most of our stuff through bank transfers but the process is not appropriate for us because someone has to travel to Hwange to deposit his money before he can get his product. In Binga we only have one bank which a lot of people are not using,” said Mr Mudenda.
“Transporting raw materials is very expensive on our side. Clients always prefer cheap products, they do not consider the costs you may have incurred. As a supplier you are caught in-between meeting a customer’s needs and the need to make a little profit in light of the costs incurred during transportation. Prices have to be cheap to meet a rural-based market but at times we find it hard to charge certain prices so that we don’t run losses,” he added.
“Sometimes you just have to be content making that little profit and feel comfortable with how you live. However, realising that you have children who need to go to school and you have to put food on the table, you will get to realise that you just have to make the business as sustainable as possible,” said Mr Mudenda.
The formal carpentry industry has been declining in the previous years, around the country due to the cost of doing business and the influx of cheap imported furniture. According to statistics compiled by the Ministry of Small to Medium Enterprises, over 13 000 people are said to be working in the formal carpentry sector countrywide.
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