Mokgadi’s DIY journey to self-employment

The 26-year-old is a geologist by qualification and does consultancy work, however, her first love is working with her hands. She is a furniture manufacturer and explained that she has always liked do it yourself (DIY) projects. When the time was right, she decided that it would be her bread and butter.

The flame for furniture manufacturing was ignited during the first lockdown when she made the bold decision to turn her hobby into a profession.

Mokgadi started out making videos of herself doing DIY work and she would post them on social media, this is also how her first client found out about her work.

“The client was based in Phalaborwa and she did not know me but she gave me a chance. I was so nervous about how she would react seeing the final product, but she loved it,” she explained.

Mokgadi did not make any profit from her first sale but she was happy to just cover the cost of the material.

Her client’s reaction was confirmation that she is on the right path and all the hours that she invested learning from Mike Kgoedi and Abner Ndaba about upholstery and Tshepo Maseko about woodwork, were worth it. “These three people are great at what they do and I absorbed everything they taught me like a sponge until I felt I was ready to do my own thing,” she said.

Mokgadi invested in machinery and continues to hone her skills. Her main challenge thus far has been marketing. “I have learned that the business lies in marketing.

I remember when I started, I only had one client a month, I now have up to six clients in a month,” she said.

Hard work does not intimidate Mokgadi and she plans to branch out into interior design and is doing short courses to fulfill this dream.

She is also a giver and has through her foundation, Norac Joyous Christmas Foundation, hosted Christmas lunch for underprivileged children in her community. She was able to do this in 2018 and 2019, however, 2020 was a tough year and they were unable to host the lunch.

“This year, the plan is to bring joy to the children once again by giving then a hearty meal on Christmas day,” she said.