Story by Lisa Masuku-Kurira
THE Bulawayo Maker Space for Women has become an important tool for promoting women in the textile industry.
With the Maker Space housing hundreds of women entrepreneurs, 49-year-old Samkeliso Nyambiri is among women entrepreneurs reaping the benefits of leveraging on the innovative machinery brought by government and its development partners.
“The machinery acquired by government for us has helped us a lot. We have managed to penetrate markets we were not able to break into before,” she said.
The centre has made it possible for women to upscale productivity and develop their businesses through empowering young women and girls in the society.
“The rentals are not very expensive. This has helped me develop my business. I have managed to empower other young women and girls from my community,” Mrs Nyambiri noted.
Young girls who have been empowered by women in the textile industry are pleased to be able to tap knowledge from experienced personnel.
“We get to learn a lot from elder people who know a lot about the textile industry,” a youth stated.
Other women entrepreneurs in the garment industry also speak of how the machinery has boosted their efficiency in terms of production of quality products that are acceptable in the market.
“The button machine has made it easy for us to do the buttoning process. Before we had these machines, we used to do this process manually.”
Coordinator of Bulawayo Chamber of SMEs, Mr Nketha Dlamini also testifies how leveraging on the innovative technology has helped women sell their products to a broader market.
“Women are now able to sell their products to a broader market because the quality of their products has improved.”
Women’s financial empowerment is a cornerstone of the country’s development strategy, hence government is committed to advancing gender equality of women and girls.
