Africa-Press – Eswatini. Preparations for the National Handicraft Exhibition are at an advanced stage.
This was alluded to by the Capacity Building Project for Microfinance Focusing on Grassroots in Eswatini Project Advisor Grace Dludlu.
She said they were working in collaboration with the handicraft department in the ministry of commerce industry and trade. Dludlu said they held a preparatory meeting at The George Hotel for the exhibition to be held on October 28 in Manzini.
She said the planned exhibition will showcase new products which the crafters have shifted to make and sell at the right price following that the products are of high quality meeting the international standard and could be easily sold online.
In an interview, Dludlu noted that the crafters have an understanding of good quality products and pricing and that the quality cannot be compromised.
“In the preparatory meeting for this important day, some of the crafters testified that they now produce new quality products with different designs and sell to their customers who value their products and are willing to pay a good price for the high-quality products.
“They said they have now come to understand that a good quality product has its value which will never lose value at the local market or overseas markets. The value is always the same but it’s only the currency that has different values,” she said.
Skills Development
Giving background, the project advisor stated that the capacity building project was officially launched in November 2020 and started off its training programmes despite the advent of COVID-19.
She said among the ongoing training programmes mostly focusing on entrepreneurship management knowledge and skills development; the project held various workshops for the handcrafters on new product design, development, pricing and marketing.
Dludlu added that the various categories were represented by 15 members from each category which were grass work, plasticware products, woodcarving, basketry, pottery, beadwork, knitting crocheting and leathercraft
Through this programme which encouraged innovation and making unique products which currently respond to the needs of the customers for effective business; she said 156 members were trained in the different categories.
“As a result, the new product designs and development workshops which were conducted brought about a paradigm shift in the minds of the crafters since some of them have since realised that they could improve their lives by just doing handicraft. “They are eager to take their handicraft business to the next level. Of importance is that the youth has also decided to join the industry.
Innovative
“For an example the Makhungutja crafters who specialise in grass products made a complete turn-around by improving their handcraft products by adding coloured and well-designed table mates, hand bags, cat scratchers, comfortable baby buckets and doll or pet buckets,” she added.
Further, Dludlu said the innovative and high-quality products found themselves selected to participate in the India National Trade Fair and in the Botswana National Trade Fair in 2022.
They now have standing orders, which they have to meet. Meanwhile, Principal Handicraft Officer, Kenneth Maphevu Dlamini, appreciated the Taiwan Technical Mission for helping crafters through the project. He said they had made great strides in raising the standard of the handicraft business in the country by providing such result-oriented trainings.
Comparing, Dlamini stated that in the 1990s, crafters used to sell their products at Mantenga and receive cash immediately which made a positive impact in their lives. He said nowadays, things have changed and there were a number of agents and retailers who buy products from the crafters at very low prices so that they could sell them in neighbouring countries and even overseas at triple or five times the price and in foreign currency.
“This has left the crafters to live from hand to mouth whilst the retailers made a fortune.
lifestyle
“It is no wonder that you find these retailers making high returns and a sudden change in lifestyle within a few months whilst the crafters remain poor and work very hard to meet the retailers’ hard demand for the production.” He said it was high time that the producers (crafters) should change the game and produce as well retail their own products.
“This is exactly what is happening at the Manzini Trade Hub; products are being sold at ridiculously low prices which is killing the industry. As a department, we have had discussions on cooperative awareness with the crafters in the four regions and the crafters have a greed to adopt the cooperative business model which works for the benefit of all members in terms of production, management and marketing,” stated Dlamini.
Adding, he said the handicraft department working on a National Handicraft Policy which will give proper guidance on doing handicraft in Eswatini. He encouraged the crafters to bring the best products which they will showcase as some will also be sold to the public at the event.
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