For Itumeleng Molopo, crocheting has been an important part of her life growing up, and now again in her adult life as means to provide for her family. As a child, it helped her steer away from negative influences such as teenage pregnancies, drug abuse, and crime so prevalent in her community. “It keeps your hands busy,” she explains.
Crocheting is much more than a craft for her; it has enabled her to earn a living and make a meaningful impact in her community. After participating in the Nedbank-funded Ranyaka Building Businesses programme and listing her products on Takealot in 2023, a leading online marketplace in South Africa, her business has grown significantly. She now trains twelve people to crochet to keep up with online orders. She also teaches 10 students three times a week how to crochet at local primary schools, hoping to offer them a brighter future.
Stitching through struggles: Overcoming all odds
Her dream is to expand her business enough to have a factory space where she can hire full-time employees to produce stock. “I also want to get international exposure,” she adds. She also aims to become the first accredited crochet instructor in South Africa, with a long-term goal of establishing a global crochet academy.
Her journey to success wasn’t easy, but despite all the setbacks she managed to build a sustainable business. When asked about the legacy she wants to leave behind, she says she wants to be remembered for her resilience and ability to overcome challenges, of which she has had plenty.
When she lost her job in 2017, her primary concern was making ends meet to support her young children. Drawing on her basic experience with crochet as an eight-year-old, she aimed to turn her hobby into a business. Each month, she used her UIF pay-outs to buy crochet materials, staying focused on her goal.
Each day after finishing her chores, she walked to the public schools for free Wi-Fi. There, she taught herself how to crochet online. Using the materials she bought from her UIF pay-outs, she learned to create various crochet items. Determined to succeed, she enrolled in numerous online courses and followed various crochet influencers on social media to understand market trends in her search for product-market fit.
A stitch in time: Building a sustainable business
Getting into business without experience is not easy. “You think you’re going to make money, but end up living hand to mouth,” she recalls, remembering her early days going to flea markets with high hopes of making money and ending up not selling many items.
But she didn’t give up. She shares about the many days she walked around the local community with a notebook doing research in an attempt to figure out what people would buy. She kept trying different patterns and different colours and eventually business started picking up.
Requests for custom crochet items started pouring in. Initially, she accepted every request, but as she compared her work to international business experts and was unable to keep up, she decided to specialise. She focused on her strengths and what customers came back for which proved to be the key to her business’s growth.
The next hurdle came with the Covid-19 pandemic, which shut down all the markets where she sold her products. By again not giving up and listing her products on Takealot, she managed to overcome the challenge, and now she receives orders from all over the country. To keep up with demand, Itumeleng is now training 12 local individuals how to crochet. This initiative not only equips them with a practical skill but also provides financial relief to these unemployed trainees, making a tangible impact on their community.
Beyond the basics: Building a stronger business through training
Itumeleng is dedicated to ongoing learning, regularly taking part in crochet and business courses, workshops, and training programmes to expand her expertise. In 2022, she participated in the Nedbank-funded Ranyaka Building Businesses programme, that she discovered on social media, which gave her valuable skills in accounting and business planning. While previously she dreaded balancing the books at the end of the month, after the course she looks forward to this task!
Itumeleng is also grateful to have had the opportunity to learn about remaining compliant as a business, costing her products and services, identifying whether she is selling her products in the best possible places and platforms, and recognising the best banking solutions for her business. A particular highlight was participating in the Mamelodi Street Market hosted by Ranyaka as part of the Nedbank Proud of my Town programme where she sold a few items, got orders and generated new leads, ultimately building her confidence in her product offering.
In her continuous pursuit of creating fabulous products and being a good captain of her ship, she is currently participating in Ranyaka’s Nedbank-funded “Scaling for Success Elevator Pitching Challenge” to refine her brand and marketing strategies. While currently she is involved in all aspects of the business, a future goal is to bring in someone to oversee operations, allowing her to concentrate on driving sales and growth.
“I’m mostly looking forward to the networking training session because I am an introvert so it’s hard to approach people or even talk about my business in a way that pulls in potential investors or customers because I rely on the products to speak for themselves. But I know I need to do better in putting myself out there more and making those connections so I can elevate my business,” she shares, once again showing her courage in addressing her weaknesses head-on.
The captain of her ship: Inspiring a crochet revolution
Itumeleng finds immense satisfaction in navigating her business’s path and making key decisions. Her brand name, Captain Fabulous, perfectly captures her vision of being a skilled captain for her business and crafting remarkable things to lead her business to success.
She also loves how she inspires so many people with her crochet business and how people think about crochet. Traditionally, it was seen as something done only by grannies, while now it is becoming trendier.
Her closing words and advice to aspiring entrepreneurs: “Don’t give up on your dreams. Don’t stop. Keep going despite the challenges, because there will always be challenges.”
Mamelodi is one of 31 communities across 8 provinces in South Africa where Ranyaka is implementing the Nedbank Proud of my Town (PoMT) programme. Building Business is one of ten programmes that forms part of the PoMT initiative.
Images by: Lizelle Lötter Photography