Zandile Tlhapi launched the first ever baby shop in Khayelitsha, which she hopes to grow into a fulltime factory which will employ women from the community.
Khayelitsha, Cape Town – The community is rallying behind Zandile Tlhapi who has started the first ever baby shop in Khayelitsha. The shop, Baby Friendly, is the start of something great, the growth of employment in the township and empowerment of local women.
Khayelitsha is one of the largest and oldest local communities in Cape Town with an estimated population size of about 2 million. The untapped market is significant as many people living in the area have to go outside their communities to buy baby clothes. Baby clothes are expensive but added to that they have to factor in public transport costs as well as being open to opportunistic crime.
By opening a store in the community, Zandile has tapped into the market and opened a world of possibility, not only for herself but also for women just like her. Her goal is to bring convenient, affordable, and quality baby products to parents and parents to be.
“I also have the dream to offer employment to local women and youth in the community through the production and sale of baby clothes.”
“The next step in Baby Friendly’s journey is the launch of our factory. We already have a number of machines lined up that would need to be purchased to start manufacturing our own baby clothes to sell, we just need some investment to purchase these machines and tools. Additionally, we will use donations to pay the women that will be working in the factory, transportation costs to local markets to sell, and other various selling and administrative costs.”
To achieve this goal, Zandile has set up a crowdfunding page to help her build the capital needed to start her next step. Her dream isn’t massive, but it can grow into something life-changing.
Her client base is already growing with business interests coming from as far off as Kenya, and Khayelitsha tourism growth is equally as promising.
If you would like to help Zandile empower the women within her community, you can do so via her crowdfund on GoGetFunding here.
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