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Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter
MR Talent Mloyi buys timber from the Forestry Commission and manufactures high quality furniture made of mukwa, teak and rosewood that is sold in Victoria Falls and Bulawayo from a factory in Lupane in Matabeleland North province.

He is part of 10 men who are members of Lupane Business Association Trust operating from the Matabeleland North capital.

Mr Mloyi says because they produce high quality furniture, they were failing to meet demand for their products.

A Chronicle news crew visited their factory yesterday. Mr Mloyi was just finalising making two chests of drawers which he had manufactured at the request of a client and he said he supplies shops in Bulawayo.

“I mainly specialise in manufacturing mukwa, teak doors which I supply to furniture shops in Bulawayo but some of the products are sold in Harare.

At the moment the two chests of drawers that you are seeing here I did them at the request of a customer who paid US$150 for each yet the same products are being sold for up to US$800 each at some furniture shops in other cities and towns,” said Mr Mloyi.

He said he once made a coffee table for a client and charged him US$80 and the client admitted he had produced the table at a giveaway price as he had seen a similar table selling for US$800 at a furniture shop in Harare.

Mr Mloyi said while they are producing quality products, their biggest challenge is access to markets.

He said he became a carpenter in 2010, three years after leaving the country in 2007 for South Africa.

He failed to make it outside the country and came back home.

 

Now, he is making a living through carpentry.

“So when I returned in 2010, I started working under someone until in 2017 when I was trained by the Ministry of Medium and Small Enterprise Development. After the training, I received a certificate and slowly I started buying my own equipment. Now I have employed two people to assist me in my business,” said Mr Mloyi.

He said as a sector they need financial support to scale up production.

Another carpenter who operates from the same factory, Mr Nkosiyabo Ndlovu said easy access to timber which is readily available in Lupane has enhanced their business.

“The advantage we have is that we buy our timber locally from the Forestry Commission and we are exempt from paying for transport.  We can say timber is our gold here. We are able to provide for our families through what we do here but our challenge is meeting demand for our products,” said Mr Ndlovu.

 

He said they get orders from furniture shops to produce products such as coffee tables, bar stools, tables, beds but are failing to meet demand.

Mr Ndlovu said they have challenges accessing adequate raw materials because of lack of capital.

“At the moment I have several furniture shops that want to partner with us so that we supply them with furniture but we are not producing enough to meet their demand.

I think with funding we can compete with any supplier in the country because we use teak, mukwa and rosewood and the products that we produce cannot be compared to those made from chipboard that have flooded the market,” said Mr Ndlovu.

A look at the prices being charged by most manufacturers at the Lupane factory shows that they are selling their products for a song given the high quality of furniture they produce.

Another carpenter who operates from the factory, Mr Makhuleke Ngwenya said their biggest challenge is that their business is hand to mouth and as such they are forced to compromise on prices so that their products sell fast.

He said when they are broke, a bed that can fetch US$200 can be sold for as little as US$80.

“We don’t have a standardised way of pricing our products. If someone finds me in need of cash, I can sell some of the goods very cheaply. We have potential but we need support to scale up production,”he said.

Mr Thulani Sibanda, who is both a carpenter and a welder said some of them were now producing furniture for local schools.

He said the factory which is run by 10 operators also teaches budding youths who want to join the industry.

 

“We also produce furniture for nearby schools. However, we can do better as far as producing goods is concerned.

We just need to be financially disciplined instead of giving in to social pressures which results in us compromising on pricing,” he said.

Lupane State University director of marketing and public relations Mr Zwelithini Dlamini said the local carpenters have great potential.

Universities are mandated to provide solutions to communities that they are located in and Lupane State University is working towards making the timber business more viable for locals.

 

Mr Dlamini said the university has tried to encourage the carpenters to register their businesses but they have not heeded the call.

“We even have lecturers who were willing to assist them to get regulated but they do not seem interested. As a university we have even hired them to do some of the jobs at the university,” said Mr Dlamini.

— @nqotshili