Being unemployed and hungry taught Eunice Netshivhodza (40) to come up with a plan to support her family.

She taught herself dressmaking skills because she was determined to defeat the scourge of unemployment and poverty that terrorized her on a daily basis.

Today, Eunice is her own boss and she has emerged as the toast of Khalavha village, west of Sibasa, because of her creativity, which makes her to provide her community with traditional and modern clothing. She has also provided a formerly unemployed community member with a permanent job.

“I had no other alternative except to use my hands to generate some income. I couldn’t afford to beg for the rest of my life and I decided to do something because I am the master of my own destiny. Many people think the best thing is to go out and look for jobs, but we can also create jobs for ourselves. Community members have hidden talents but they do not know how to utilize them. I didn’t realize that I was sitting on a bag of money until I took the initiative to stand up and fight for my future.”

Eunice manufactures Venda traditional attire (minwenda), trousers, shirts, women’s clothes, school and church uniforms, wedding re-galia and anything one can think of. Because of the high demand for her goods and a shortage of working space, Eunice decided to move her business from her Khalavha rural village home to Thohoyandou. “Working at home was quite a nice experience, but I could not absorb the pressure of being isolated from wide exposure. I wanted to serve a wide range of customers from different places and Thohoyandou was the best place to be.”

Married to Patric, a traditional doctor, Eunice says she started sewing in 1991. “Although I was not employed, I did odd jobs and my husband assisted me until I acquired my first secondhand sewing machine. After working for some years on my own, I decided to attend formal training and I received my Sewing Certificate from the Lispo Dressmaking School in 1995. I now have seven sewing machines which I use on a rotational basis, depending on the product I am manufacturing.”

The mother of six says she implements a deposit system to avoid being ripped off by some unfaithful customers. “I make them pay half of the amount before I process their orders. They would then pay the balance upon collection. I have decided to implement this system because I have lost a lot of money in the past.”

She shares her secret of success with Mirror: “Hard work, effective time management and proper customer care will make you go places.”