Our March blog series will focus on the challenges artisans overcame due to COVID-19. As the director of Lupane Women’s Development Trust, Hildigard Mufukare overcame many barriers to continue exporting traditional baskets to wholesale customers around the world. Read on to hear her inspiring story of ingenuity during the pandemic.

Tell us a little about your enterprise - what do you sell, what makes it special?

Lupane Women’s Development Trust is a membership based social enterprise owned and run by rural women of Lupane District located in Matabeleland North, Zimbabwe. The enterprise is involved in basketry, horticulture, and small livestock production. The enterprise sells poultry and poultry products, goats and goat meat and various types of baskets. Of all the products, baskets have successfully made it into the international market with wholesale customers in  places such as some states in the USA, Germany, Holland, Spain, Sweden, Denmark,  UK, Australia, Zambia, Malawi, Turkey, and South Africa. 

The enterprise is special because it enjoys the full participation of the women members who are responsible for the production of baskets from their own backyards. The women are also part of the governance structure and most of them have very little education qualifications to talk about. However, the Trust has remained relevant and resilient despite several challenges in the macro environment.  The involvement of beneficiaries in decision making has immensely contributed to its success since all activities will focus on benefitting the women. No one person expected the organisation to reach the levels it has reached and its ability to earn a bit of foreign currency through exporting baskets.

Tell us a little more about you and your role there? 

As the Director of the Centre, my role is to understand the vision of the women about the enterprise, to break it down into medium term goals and to pass it on to the team working at the Centre. Another key role is to fundraise and to avail all necessary resources that include Finance, Equipment and Labour. During implementation I carry out monitoring to ensure that activities are implemented according to plan. 

What is your favourite part of your work?

Working with rural women which has been a great inspiration as I have learnt that education is not necessarily academic nor is it limited to reading and writing. Despite their limited or lack of academic education, the women are able to come up with intricate designs that are a marvel to behold. Their ability to determine the direction of the Centre leading to its growth makes them a great inspiration. What ices the cakes is the difference the women are able to make in their own lives.

What pivots/changes to the business did you and your team make in response to the challenges of COVID? 

The enterprise had to strengthen its online reach to clients since they could not be reached physically. Orders for baskets continued to come through despite COVID-19 and to fulfil them the weavers had to be coordinated through cellphones. 

What were 3 things you learned as a result of the challenges faced?

The three lessons learnt are that;

Opportunities are not permanent and one needs to tap fully into them while they still exist. 

That change is a feature for which we need to always anticipate and plan for and we had to turn to the use of online facilities and improved the way we had to conduct all business at the click of a button.

Whilst before lockdown staff were greatly involved in monitoring the production of baskets when it was not possible to travel to the villages we had to ask the women to organize themselves and call once products were ready and they did it very well and with a lot of efficacy. 

What 3 things are you most proud of accomplishing last year?

Survival of the enterprise and the ability to reopen post the first total lockdown. That the weavers continued production despite lockdown and customers were able to get their orders. The weavers improved their production structure and worked with minimal supervision. Ability to strengthen other business units like the Hospitality section which provides support to the women’s activities.

Are there any silver linings you can identify from the challenges of last year? Any business or personal practices that have been adopted that you will keep beyond COVID?

Understanding the value of time whose key is NOW. 

Continuous staff motivation and push to ensure that all members of the team contribute fully towards the enterprise. 

Having the women who are the beneficiaries as the centre of all activities and decisions made to fully benefit them. This way the Centre will remain sustainable.

Finally, what would you say is your top SUPERPOWER - a positive quality that comes second nature to you - and did it help you through 2020 and how is it helping you stay resilient in 2021?

When one door closes there is always another which opens and leads to even better returns. As a result there is never room for giving up but rather a very big search for more and better opportunities. It is this SUPERPOWER which has enabled me to identify opportunities that have availed themselves despite COVID-19.

Interested in ordering from the Lupane Women’s Development Trust? Email lupanewomensdevttrust@gmail.com to learn how.