SARCDA International 2010, which took place from the 11th to the 14th of March in Johannesburg, was one of the final highlights for the three entrepreneurs taking part in Aid to Artisans South Africa Trust’s entrepreneurship support program. This program funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation as part of their craft support initiatives in South Africa and Lesotho. Since the program is nearing a close, a way to ensure sustainability and independence is allowing the artisan exporters to put their knowledge and training into action. Portia Cele, Thokozani Zulu and Lieakae Matsimane were tasked with setting up the stand, merchandising it with the handcraft products from the producer groups that they represent, managing it during the show and dealing with buyers throughout. This was done with very little direction from ATASA Trust staff.
The entrepreneurs took a total of 44 orders and dealt with 31 buyer interest requests over the 4 days. In addition, the stand won a Gold Award for “Best Stand in the Focus on Local” section of the show. This was exciting and well deserved for everyone, especially since the stand was a reusable and recyclable cardboard box that was also used as the container to transport and package all the products. The same box was used at Design Indaba in February in Cape Town and received positive attention there too.
When talking about their experiences of tradeshows and in particular this one as a culmination of the mentoring received from ATASA Trust, Portia and Lieakae said that they felt a real sense of independence and identity at the show and that it had been a great opportunity for them to test all the knowledge accumulated over the past years. Also on a positive note, Thokozani said that the success of the show was a clear indication that he could independently manage his business and space at such a show in the future.
The entrepreneurs have now all registered their businesses and between them currently represent and work with 14 handcraft businesses consisting of approximately 200 rural-based crafters.
