When one mentions jewellery in Botswana, visions of diamond-encrusted pieces automatically come to mind.
For those after something a little different, Godisang Patience Tsumake has the answer.
Fascinated by ‘the breath-taking’ beauty of jewellery, it was during her days as a student at Motheo Tret College that Tsumake decided this was the path she wanted to follow in life.
Having studied Visual Arts at tertiary, the 34-year-old is putting her creative talents to good use through her jewellery-making business, Creative Platform Enterprise, which she started in 2019.
The entity specialises in rings, neck pieces and earrings using materials such as brass, silver gold and pearls, with Tsumake drawing inspiration for her designs from nature as well as her own life experiences.
“I try by all means to create a unique style and modern designs which are appealing and suit preferences of the customer,” says the Ramotswa native, whose silver rings are priced at P800 while brass pieces go for P650.
Although she pushes her business from her residence in Magope ward, the manufacturing workshop is actually 160km away in Jwaneng, with Tsumake dividing her time between the two locations.
She is quick to acknowledge the limitations of selling from home but her pockets don’t allow her to open up a store just yet.
Instead, Tsumake has to make do with social media, primarily Instagram and TikTok, to market her jewellery.
After six years designing and manufacturing jewellery for a living, the jeweller admits it’s been a journey of ups and downs, with Covid-19 a particularly rough patch.
“Being a jewellery maker is a beautiful journey because you get to learn from other jewellery makers who have been in the industry for a long time. However, our country is still developing in terms of this area so doing the business has its own challenges. Challenges we face as a jewellery business are big shops which are there and have more customers. As a result, competition is high and for us who recently started it is a challenge; we still trying to get a footing in the market because keeping and attracting customers requires trust and loyalty,” she explains.
With jewellery-making one of the priority sectors for the Africa Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA), Tsumake is in line to benefit, providing she can scale up production and meet requirements for exporting to the huge US market.
“Patience is required in order to finally make it in this industry because you get customers sometimes and sometimes you don’t get anything at all. I would like to collaborate more with funding companies in Botswana in future such that I grow the brand and go international,” concludes Tsumake, who has every confidence of achieving this ambition.
