Swaziland – Pearl Mabaso

Pearl Mabaso is the owner of Pearl’s Boutique which specializes in sewing church gowns for the two mainstream dominions which are the Zion church and the Jericho (Red-Gown Sect). Apart from those, Pearl’s boutique also specializes in sewing African attires.  

After receiving training, Pearl has purchased more industrial sewing machines compared to the domestic sewing machines that she had prior to this. Because of this, she has started conducting sewing lessons because there are more sewing machines available than those that she needs. In addition, before the training, Pearl was sewing in a small office which she rented at the Old Bus Rank in Mbabane and she now has a bigger sewing space where she also conducts the lessons at the Mbabane Market.  

The market for this kind of business is already congested since a lot of dressmakers now realize that there is a great market in this business and are therefore focused on tailoring for it therefore there was a challenge for Pearl to establish and maintain her clientele. Through word of mouth and the good quality of her products, Pearl has managed to maintain her customers. Pearl also experienced a shortage of funds because to start up her business, she received no funding from external sources than her own pockets.  

After the training, Pearl was able to use the computer for basics but the easiest way to communicate with her customers is through phone calls and WhatsApp because that is most effective to her client base.