Young entrepreneur teaches himself the art of upholstery through watching Youtube
Many people struggle to find employment. When days and months go by without any luck, they fall into a cloud of despair and get frustrated with life. The 24-year-old Tshifhiwa Madzhie, however, did not lose hope
LIMPOPO – Many people struggle to find employment. When days and months go by without any luck, they fall into a cloud of despair and get frustrated with life.
The 24-year-old Tshifhiwa Madzhie, however, did not lose hope when he realised that both his parents were not working.
To his thinking, there was still hope that his father would finally get some employment and continue to look after the family.
“As a youngster at home, one just wakes up to food in the kitchen.
” A child hardly worries about tomorrow because there is always this kind of faith or confidence in the parents, that they would look after us and provide in all our needs and that they would do this on time.”
Tshifhiwa’s father then passed away and there was no one who earned an income in the extended family of nine.
While his father was still alive, even when he was unemployed, he could bring home something through piece work or odd jobs.
“The death of my father flung me into the centre stage of becoming a breadwinner.
“I had to find something to do in order to supplement the little income which other family members, like my brothers and sisters, were sometimes able to bring in.
” Living in an extended family, you need to contribute because you can clearly see that even those who are contributing, are doing so from really nothing at all.”
Tshifhiwa had always been techno-savvy and bought data vouchers to access the internet. After days he managed to find what he was looking for, a means to earn a living.
While most people use the internet for social media purposes, he used it to research the kind of work with which he would beautify his life, discovering the art of upholstery.
He raised money to buy his first sewing machine and some basic tools, followed by watching upholstery lessons on YouTube.
“It was not easy to follow the instructions on the YouTube videos at first, but I had to focus and pay attention to the details.
“Today I am a proud upholsterer who is in high-demand.”
Tshifhiwa specialises in trimmings and upholstery and uses his skills to give life to old car seats, car roofs, dashboards, door panels, tents and household and office furniture.
“I know that not working is a frustrating phase in life. Therefore, I found two fellow youths, Maanda Machaba and Rudzani Luruli, and I taught them how to do upholstery. I employed them and they are happy for the kind of skills which I am continuing to transfer to them.”
Meanwhile, Tshifhiwa is facing financial challenges to grow his business.
He wishes to open a big workshop where he would be able to grow his business and employ more youths.
“At this stage I am not so sure where to get finance for my business, because the little money which we are able to generate on a monthly basis goes to paying me and my two employees.
“We are left with nothing in our account however, we are in the process of registering our business so that we can access government funding.”
