Taking hands to empower entrepreneurial women

KNYSNA NEWS - In a heart-warming display of women's empowerment and unity, the Hands Design Collective held a special handover event to provide 20 deserving ladies with essential design equipment on Thursday 24 August.

These women participated in the organisation's first training program and completed the Hands Design beginner course. This initiative promotes skills development for female entrepreneurs in the textile and seamstress industry.

The training programme began at the beginning of 2022 and concluded in August of this year.

The generous donation of equipment was made possible by the National Development Agency, highlighting the collective effort to support and uplift women in their entrepreneurial journey.

Hands Design Collective has since trained another group of 20 trainees and is also currently running a learnership programme to qualify learners with a national certificate in clothing manufacturing.

The handover event was a celebration of achievement, resilience, and the unwavering spirit of these aspiring entrepreneurs. Each recipient was presented with a package containing a range of design equipment, including sewing machines, fabric vouchers from Mo's Fabric Knysna, scissors, and other essential tools.

These resources were selected to equip the women with the necessary tools to pursue their dreams and establish successful businesses in the textile industry.

The atmosphere was filled with excitement and gratitude as the women received their equipment, with an impromptu dance party breaking out amongst the jubilant recipients.

"Hands Design Collective wants to promote job creation specifically within the handicraft sector in the Garden Route. It has grown into a focus on skills development, specifically in sewing and clothing manufacturing.

"The idea behind it is that these ladies can now start their own businesses from home. "Hands Design Collective is all about learn-to-earn skills and we aim to empower these formidable ladies to expand upon what they learned and generate sustainable income from the learned skills," says Adelaide Lor, director of Hands Design Collective.

The Collective plans to expand programmes into the areas of plumbing, electrician work and hairdressing. They plan to team up with Garden Route Skills to make this a reality in the near future.