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By Buziwe Nocuze
- Nolitha Qhuma started Rea’Nubia in her mother’s Khayelitsha shack in 2011, after a year of searching for a fashion internship.
- Her one domestic machine has grown into four production spaces and a boutique, and she now employs three staff members.
Nolitha Qhuma spent a year trying to get a fashion internship. Nobody would take her.
Qhuma wanted to intern first so she could learn the industry, build a network, and make her early mistakes without risking her own money. She went from fashion house to fashion house looking for a placement, with no luck.
“I had to fast-track my desire to do business. The plan was to do business five years later after doing my internship,” she said.
So in 2011, straight after graduating, she started Rea’Nubia in her mother’s small shack in Khayelitsha, with one domestic sewing machine.
“Every time I made money I would save up for a year or more to buy machines. I did that for almost ten years or more until I was exposed to government spaces like Seda that could provide some sort of assistance,” she said.
The shack has since been renovated into four production spaces upstairs and a retail boutique downstairs. Qhuma has hired three people, and says word of mouth and social media have brought her a few clients as far as Australia and the USA.
Rea’Nubia makes retail pieces, accessories, wedding designs and tailor-made outfits, drawing on African art, history and what Qhuma calls “natural and manmade marvels.”
She did needlework at school but did not know fashion could be a career until Grade 11, when a teacher explained it to her.
“After her explanation, I knew that it was something I would be doing. I knew in my spirit that I am called for entrepreneurship, building something, providing jobs for my community, for myself, and building a business that somehow will feel like an institution,” she said.
Qhuma’s advice to graduates struggling to find internships is to volunteer.
“They must not say they are not getting anything. Getting to be in a space where you are working with someone who has more experience than you, that experience is money. It may not be money now, but it will be in the future. Don’t stay at home and do nothing. Knock on doors, keep trying,” she said.
Noxolo Luwaca, 48, has been a client since Qhuma was still selling from a stall on Long Street, before the business had a name.
“She has grown and I have been watching and supporting her, and I will continue supporting her. I have already bought a lot from her, from wedding outfits to traditional ceremonies, and I will continue,” Luwaca said.
Family member Vuyiseka Makeleni said Qhuma started out fixing trousers and school uniforms.
“We were not surprised when she designed a beautiful wedding dress because we have been watching her grow, and as a family, we are happy and will always be there to give her support,” Makeleni said.
Pictured above: Nolitha Qhuma started her business in her mother’s small shack in Khayelitsha township, Cape Town.
Image source: Supplied
