adminThe ZITF was for many years, mainly a male platform on which they would battle to be visible to various potential customers and establish business relations with various stakeholders. The spirit has since changed for the best, with women also featuring in large numbers, and proving to be even more outstanding and competitive entrepreneurs than some men.
What became even catchier to my eyes was to see rural women, down from the often neglected places like Binga, coming to showcase the best they can do using their own God-given skills.
As a strategy to emancipate themselves from poverty and improve their household incomes, some women are coming up with cooperatives, working together in income-generating projects. The majority of the women I talked to expressed deep satisfaction with the returns they are getting, subverting the traditional norm that the husband is supposed to be the breadwinner.
One of the most interesting projects that are being done by rural women that captured my attention is beekeeping. The honey products that I saw at T and J Country Bee Syndicate stand, a small group of 12 women based at Henderson Centre in Mazoe were enough to convince me that yes, women can also do it!
“I started getting myself involved in the beekeeping project in the 1990s. My husband had passed away and I had seven children to feed. I have always lived a decent life through selling honey, and when we started working as a group, our profit margins went even much higher,” said Mrs Jane Siyachirevo, a member of T and J Country Bee Syndicate.
Now she stays with about 15 orphans at her home in Mazoe and she has managed to give them all the necessary support through her involvement in the beekeeping project.
Another member from the group, Mrs Jane Moyo said: “We are anticipating about 24 tonnes between 15 March and 15 June. If we had a ready market, we were going to crop even much more than that.”
The group has a total of about 5 000 hives and according to Mr Moyo; one hive can produce about six kilogrammes of honey. It is really impressive how these women from the very little resources at their disposal in rural areas, have managed to develop skills in honey storage, processing, and marketing, selling well-branded pure honey, all done in a rural set-up.
I did not know that honey can be used to make excellent candles; I learned it all from these rural women entrepreneurs. To those who didn’t know how good the candles are, hear from me, you need to grab one today!
I moved to a neighbouring stand, this time to yet another group of rural women by the name Mazikelela Craft Club, a group of 10 hard working women from Gwanda, in Ward 6. It is really amazing seeing how these women can convert wood into beautiful artifacts that are attracting markets beyond Africa.
“One of our main objectives is to support orphans in our area. So we spare about 10 percent of our profits to support identified orphans who are really in serious need of assistance. We have always managed to send them to school, buy them school uniforms and other learning materials,” said Mrs Kezia Ndlovu, Mazikelela Craft Club chairperson.
All this good work has been happening deep in the countryside. Nobody seems to be noticing that there are kind-hearted women somewhere, poor as they are, sacrificing the little they have to support the needy in society.
Venturing into a business like crafting for women is not an easy thing to do. It requires great skills which call for intensive training for one to produce a product worth exhibiting at ZITF. But these energetic and selfless women are managing it, not just for themselves, but for society as well.
The women in Binga have also mastered the trick. Gone are the days when a woman would rely on her husband’s earnings for family upkeep. I also came across the Zubo Trust women’s baskets.
The talent in basket weaving inherent in these women is not far to seek. Their stunning and well-designed baskets were envied by many. For some years, they have earned a living through this kind or art-work. Getting the opportunity to exhibit their products at ZITF for the first time was indeed a welcome development for them. A lot of them could not hide their joy, stressing that the ZITF has improved their visibility on this competitive market.
Having realised the great work being done by some rural women, I had to look around for the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development stand where I also met some great talent from women displaying their products.
I talked to Mrs Patricia Komayi, who is, no doubt, producing some of the most beautiful leatherwear that I have never seen anywhere here in Bulawayo.
“We are here not only to exhibit our products, but also to educate other women who are probably desperate right now that they should try to tap into their God-given skills, using the natural resources at their disposal and earn a living, support their families and send their children to school.”
With such innovation and talent by women, the Deputy Director for Women Affairs Mr Wisdom Karongai expressed deep satisfaction over the commendable work done by women, adding that the ministry, has managed to come up with various capacity-building initiatives that have brought the rewards seen at the ZITF.
Some of the initiatives he mentioned are the vocational skills training centres like Sizinda and Lobengula, and with the support of different partners, they have a goat project in Tsholotsho, a bakery in Insiza as well as training women in various skills on a training-of-trainers basis in garment making, food processing, crafts and many other initiatives.
He added that the ministry trains women in business management skills on a needs-based approach in a bid to improve the quality of their products. Through these initiatives, he noted women have even penetrated the global market. The women have managed to go for exhibitions around Sadc and they have also managed to secure a permanent stand in China.
With the continuous support from the Government and other partners, the great potential in women can be tapped for the benefit of their families, society and the nation at large.
*The writer, Jephiter Tsamwi, is a final year student in Bachelor of Science Honours Degree in Journalism and Media Studies at Nust. He can be contacted at [email protected]. Phone: 0733854681. 0777930995
Online Reporter