Badirammogo Womens Project

Maria Sebothoma wanted to do something with her time, and so she trained workers to make dresses, clothes and other items to sell.  Speaking to some of her neighbours and fellow churchgoers, she found two other ladies who wanted to do the same thing, so she took them under her wing and trained them.  Soon four other ladies joined the group and so the project began with these seven people.

The Provincial Department of Agriculture, recognising the ambition and skill of these ladies, offered them technical training after the group was formed, and later funded the purchase of two industrial sewing machines, a cutting table and an over-locker.  Further training in Financial Management and marketing skills was provided by the Department of Labour.

The group was very aware of the fact that few homes in the area had curtains in their windows so they began to concentrate on the manufacture of curtains.  They currently manufacture voile scalloped curtains and net curtains to fill the need.

Because of high cost of buying school uniforms, parents of school going children in Primary and Secondary schools approached the group to make school uniforms for their children.  The group has also had numerous orders for Brides and Bridesmaid’s dresses from local community families.  The ladies cut their own patterns according to the specifications of the schools or the persons placing the order.

Bed linen is another speciality of theirs, and the group manufactures fitted bed sheets, pillows slips, bed comforters, duvet covers and night frills.

In 2002 the group won second place for sewing in the Nkangala District competition for emerging entrepreneurs.  They would like to be registered as a company and hope to do so during 2005.