Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. This is so evident on her face. Grace Gituma, the founder and the C.E.O at African Yarn-mades company which deals with craft work, is a jovial, intelligent, full of life and very gorgeous young lady. She delights in her success which she achieved by sacrificing her all and giving it her best.
Besides business, Grace is a third year student pursuing a degree in Food Science and Technology. So passionate about health and wellness. She trusts her hands and respects them so much.. On 4th February 2016, when she was still a first year (fresher) came up with the idea of using hand skills to make beautiful items from yarn.
This was made possible through her amazing friend, Faith Sawe, who taught her crocheting skill. As a group of five girls who believe in the power of working together, started making mats and through determination persistence and perseverance, they decided to build their own business which became a success a year later.
Their objective is to embrace the use of hand skills décor items from yarn majorly: mats, carpets, string art wall decoration and to intoduce more items later.
Talking about capital, Grace used to save for she knew exactly what she wanted. Together with ploughing back profit and support from her ‘biggest fan’, her dad, the company began. This lady has always believed in herself. She knows well that success comes in CANS not CANT’S.
To her, every second counts and cannot afford to waste any given opportunity. In order to produce the items on time, sacrifice is key in her program. Making good use of her breaks, social media marketing and training others so they can assist her when she is away has made her succeed in satisfying her clients. The 16 hours she is away from school are wisely and maxmamly invested in her business.
If you take a good look of her products, you will definitely realize that they are so appealing and of high quality. Any person who gets to see them must be tempted to buy one, two and even more items. They are creatively made and are very affordable. Giving the best is her policy.
According to Grace, convincing people that hand- made products are not cheap is still a challenge. Taking time, physical and mental energy in coming up with such amazing decor items is not easy. It requires a lot of creativity which should be greatly appreciated. However, she is still determined to persuade people and believes that one day, they will see the sense in her words.
Grace feels that the craft industry in Kenya should embrace the skills like crocheting which is still viewed as old. If only people are more creative in crocheting, then the industry will grow fast.
To the young entrepreneurs, start where you are, with what you have, and do what you can. Not forgetting to consistently chase your dreams. More importantly, do not try business but do it, fall in love with solutions you give to your problems in the community and accept corrections. All these have made Grace a star today.
Creating a vision for her life and making it a reality is her desire. She does not only want to extend her business globally but also transform a lot of people through the use of hand skills. In five years to come, this will be a reality.
