The announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa that every citizen need to wear a face mask when leaving the house gave birth to the rise of a fabric masks trade.

The streets of Tzaneen and surrounding towns are filled with masks sellers, with prices ranging from as little as R20 each.

One of the locals who took full advantage of this emerging market, is 23-year-old Lebogang Mayimele from Madlhakazi village in the N’wamitwa area.

Mayimele, a part-time public management student, borrowed a friend’s sewing machine to make her own masks.

While she is busy producing the masks, her younger brother Nsuku Mayimele and two of his friends were selling the merchandise in the streets.

“It is a viable business and the support from the public is amazing,” she explained.

She says this experience has given her a lot of confidence and she is contemplating to become an entrepreneur and employer.

She is motivated to continue in business even beyond the pandemic.

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Nkowankowa enterpreneur, Sam Ntsanwisi, and his wife Bella, also responded to Ramaphosa’s call by starting their own brand called Xonga Masks.

The business is thriving as more and more orders are coming in.

He recently made masks for a popular radio station in Polokwane.

“Our brand is different, because our focus is on quality.

We don’t buy cheap fabric with the hope to make more money, We put our clients first,” he said.

As it is still difficult to tell when things will get back to ‘normal’, this business seems to be the way to go.

For more on the merchandise follow the two businesses on Facebook Lebogang Kgomotso Mayimele or Samrec Productions.