Raizcorp ARIZE

Interview: Lucia Molefe from Mokgalaka Creations and Projects

Mokgalaka Creations and Projects is a 2^nd year Enterprise Development beneficiary company on the Raizcorp Comprehensive Enterprise Development Programme. Lucia gave us some insight into what the entrepreneurial journey has been like for her.

Born in Limpopo, Lucia was the eldest of five, with four younger brothers. She initially grew up in Tembisa, but once the time came for her to attend high school, she went back to Limpopo to attend boarding school. After matriculating in 1988, she went on to complete a BA in Social Work at the University of the North.

Lucia started her career with the Department of Social Development. She spent 15 years with the Department as a social worker. She enjoyed her work and loved to help people and deal with social problems. Her decision to eventually resign in 2008 was based upon the fact that she felt that she had reached a ceiling in terms of her career within the Department. Another deciding factor was salary. As a result, she realised that she would need to look at what to do in order to secure a better future for herself.

Just before resigning, Lucia had worked on a project with an NGO where they had to create flowers from icing sugar. Her interest was immediate and it grew by the day. She realised that she could create the most wonderful things with her hands. She started attending evening classes and learnt everything she could about cake decoration. The first cake which she created was for her parents’ anniversary. People soon started taking an interest and slowly began placing orders. Once she decided to resign, there was no question as to what business she would venture into.

Lucia has found that a lack of resources has been her biggest stumbling block in trying to build her business. She does not yet have the correct equipment needed in order to produce large orders with a quick turnaround time.

There are also various marketing avenues which she would like to pursue, but can’t because of a lack of funds. Her dream is to exhibit at the Wedding Expo as she feels that this would give her access to a ready and willing market.

Lucia is helping to create employment, albeit part-time, for 2 people. She is in the process of training them in how to create the icing flowers for her creations.

Lucia came to Raizcorp by way of the Soweto Business Guide. She decided to join the programme because of the learning which was on offer, as she felt that this was more practical than attending 1-day, once-off workshops which try and tell you everything about business in a few hours. She felt that she would gain more by being on the 1 year programme.

Lucia felt that she needed to understand the language of business. She says that Raizcorp has helped her tremendously. Raizcorp offers a personal development course called “Who Am I?” which Lucia says was an absolute eye-opener for her. She grew up in a situation where you were groomed not to stand up for yourself, and where you were not allowed to have an opinion. This course helped her to realise that she needed to take responsibility for herself.

Through her time at Raizcorp she has also realised that she contributed to the fact that people took advantage of her. She learnt how to say no. Lucia has also realised that her business, or in fact any business, cannot survive without sales and she is now all about sell, sell, sell and it is making a visible difference.

Lucia has just recently begun with the second year of the Raizcorp Comprehensive Enterprise Development Programme. She decided that a second year would be beneficial as she feels that she still has a great deal to learn about business, particularly around finance. She also feels that the introduction of additional guides (Raizcorp mentors) in the second year will help her immensely. She has already attended her first Marketing guiding session and really enjoyed it.

Lucia would love to see Mokgalaka Creations and Projects grow into a well-known, respected company that provides excellent value for money. She is in the process of re-branding and feels that this will give her a fresh start as her new image will be aligned to her vision. She feels that this will, in turn, give her that extra bit of confidence.

She says that her biggest difficulty is still the lack of resources and she would love to see more corporates getting involved in helping to develop SMMEs to acquire the actual resources they need, as opposed to just throwing money around to look good. She feels that there are so many SMMEs who need more than just financial assistance and something as simple as the sponsoring of brochures or business cards would really go a long way.

In closing, Lucia feels that her greatest accomplishment to date was being commissioned to create Madiba’s birthday cake in 2009. We wish Lucia the best of luck and we believe that she will still have a great many such accomplishments.