About the Handwork project
About us
The Handwork Hub is an Empowerment Project! Most of the ladies are the only breadwinner and the primary care-giver in their homes. Since incorporation in February 2017 we have made 7 million tassels for Distell’s Amarula Cream bottles! The ladies are serious minded about their jobs and are striving to make their children’s lives better than their own.
We are proud of what we do! The ladies’ work ethic is good and they are motivated! The fact that they are sharing in the profit plays a huge role in our production figures and the quality of our work.
Background
For the last nine years the tassels for the Amarula bottles have been produced and supplied to Distell by manufacturers who utilise complex machinery to knit the rope from a specially manufactured yarn.
Rope is manufactured at the rate of 25 kilometres a day to keep up with demand !
These standard rope lengths are then converted into the tassels that we all know, by handworkers based in townships in proximity to the supplier’s operations.
From Handworkers to Business Owners
In a partnership between Distell and Enterprise Development Specialists, Future by Design Innovation, an opportunity was identified to formalise the tassel making business and to create a sustainable, black women-owned enterprise with permanent employment and a safe working environment. The structure also enabled the ladies to own their own business and share directly in the economic benefits of their labour.
Distell’s E+Scalator Program has provided ongoing operational, financial management and production support to the business as it grows from strength to strength.
The business initially employed 23 ladies from three local communities and within 6 months this has increased to 30 ladies. New premises were secured in the ASLA business park in Strand, within walking distance from the current township in which the majority of the current handworkers reside.
Since incorporation in January 2017, the business has made more than 7 million tassels, which it has sold to Distell.
The business has grown from strength to strength and now has capacity to do additional handwork and finishing for other customers.
Please get in touch if you would like to discuss how we can help you.
