Swaziland – Nomcebo Dlamini

Nomcebo is a designer and dressmaker who is also physically disabled. She became affiliated with Gender Links in 2013 and has been an active participant in Gender Links workshops for the past 5 years. 

Prior to her first business workshop, Nomcebo was already a dressmaker and designer but a lot of improvements have taken place in her life since then. She has learnt record-keeping and money management through the workshops since she had little knowledge on saving thus she always mismanaged the funds that she received from customers. Nomcebo has also made a name for herself in the country and in South Africa through winning awards for Emerging Entrepreneurs in 2014 and 2017. She was also a runner up in the 2018 Summit held in May. 

Nomcebo’s main challenge has been sourcing the fabric that she needs for her business due to her physical disability limiting her from getting the material herself. For this reason, she ends up being overcharged for materials thus resulting in difficulties in record keeping since the prices fluctuate between suppliers. However, she has gained more confidence in herself in terms of business and therefore, has expanded her market. 

Since training, Nomcebo is now able to use a computer and set up an email address. However, due to limited access to the internet, Nomcebo mainly relies on her phone and WhatsApp for communication purposes with her customers.