Edzai

Edzai is a South African resident born in Zimbabwe. We met Edzai at the end of 2013 when he attended a BEST training course we ran in Somerset West, South Africa. A quiet man who just got on with the tasks at hand. A skill he learnt in Zimbabwe was making creations from wire. Whether it was music instruments or vases with flowers or bicycles or even words which could be mounted onto a wall for décor – he showed his skill in making these.

In our course Edzai was the top profit-maker from his practical business.

Now a year later at end 2014 I had opportunity to ask him how his business is going.

Wow it seems to have gone from strength to strength. He is still doing wire creations – now many of them include beading on them. He is focussing on doing the Big-5 because of a big tourist trade. He is making some of them to order as well which will always make the customer happy. For Christmas he is also thinking to make a range of products which include wire trees and decorations.

So I questioned him along the lines of the 4P’s of marketing which is something we teach in the original training.

• Product – he changed from what he was making to making the Big-5 because he found that he had a greater demand for that. He has also looked into seasonal products like the Christmas decorations at this time of year.
• Price – he did some market research and has priced his products along the lines of the going rate.
• Place – he was selling in a different place but was told to move. I am not sure the reason why but he was also told of a different place where he could sell and that new place has actually been very fruitful for him in selling these products.
• Promotion – he has a couple of animals on display – usually a big one and then a few small ones so that the customer can see different examples. And then as mentioned earlier he also makes these to order if the customer would like something that isn’t there.

After 1 year Edzai’s business is still running and it seems to have expanded and become more established. What a joy it was to meet up with him again after 1 year since the business training.