Nyamuka Zambia Business Plan Competition 5 Katemo Road, Rhodes Park, Lusaka info@pepzambia.com www.nyamukazambia.com

Portrait of a Nyamuka Zambia entrepreneur

Case study No 3 September 2016

Christina Kabamba Syafunko better by design

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Better by design Christina Kabamba Syafunko was one of the 20 winners in the inaugural

season of the Nyamuka Zambia Business Plan Competition in 2015 with a

business plan specialising in ready-to-wear clothes with a distinctive

African twist.

Getting started

Christina Kabamba Syafunko’s journey into the world of ready-to-wear

fashion was not a straightforward one. In fact, initially her path was

supposed to lead her towards a career in the Veterinary profession,

courtesy of a full scholarship to a university in Russia. But all that was to

change when, in her second year of studies, it dawned on her as she sat in a

lengthy Gystology class that she just didn’t have the vocation to be a vet. “I

realised that to be a vet I needed to be able to deal with animals’ bodies and

insides and I just didn’t want to do it”, Christina confessed. “Also, I have to

admit, I was probably a little homesick so that was it. I quit and came

home”. Of course, that then begged the question.

What next?

Not many people know this but Christina was actually born in Russia and is

a fluent Russian speaker. Her Zambian father met her Russian mother

when he was a scholarship student studying Mechanical Engineering back in

the 1980s. The rest, as they say, is history. Christina comes from a family of

entrepreneurs now based in Mansa. With the collapse of the parastatal sector in

Zambia, her father set up two companies, one dealing in the supply of automobile

spare parts, the other dealing in agricultural supplies and the trading of agricultural

produce. The first company is now largely run by Andrew, Christina’s younger

brother. Her mother still remains involved in both companies as their financial

director while her father is semi-retired and is pursuing new adventures in the

development and preservation of natural sanctuaries in Luapula Province.

The natural move seemed to be for Christina to join the family business and so her

parents were delighted when Christina announced her intention of going to business

school to gain an advanced diploma in Business Studies while she decided what to

do with her life. However Christina knew that her future did not lie in conventional

business. As a youngster, “I loved art and was good at it but I never really studied it.

The schools I attended didn’t really offer those courses”. However she joined clubs,

and her parents supported her by finding art teachers for her. “Mum played a big

role. She spent a lot of time drawing and doing arty things with me”, Christina

reflected. However, when it came to formal studies and an eventual career, she was

encouraged to go down the science path by school and family alike. This, she now

felt, was a mistake. So she set her sights on combining her increasing business

knowledge with a more creative element though it took her a little while to work

out what angle this would take.

The seed of the idea came whilst studying in Russia. There, Christina had met her

mother’s old friend who had previously worked making high-end custom dresses in

a couture atelier. “I watched her work – it was fascinating – and I just knew that I

Christina wearing one of her favourite

Kamanga skirts

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could do that too”. The Russian connection continued on her return to Zambia

when she asked another highly creative friend of her mother, whose many

talents included the ability to craft beautiful clothes, to teach her to sew. “My

Mum laughed and told me that I was not patient enough to learn to sew”. But

over time Christina did learn, acquiring knowledge and skills in old-school

couture techniques, producing hand-finished, long lasting modern designs using

classic sewing techniques.

However, Christina knew that her future was not in the lofty world of couture. She

wanted to know how people produced high-street fashion for companies such as

Edgars and Woolworths. She knew that the painstaking hand-crafting techniques of

the atelier that she had learned would not be appropriate to the efficient, high-

speed environment of the ready-to-wear market, so she took herself to South Africa

to study at a fashion design school for two years.

At the time, this was at odds with conventional wisdom that she was receiving from

friends and family who felt the only successful Zambia businesses were those where

you have total hands-on control of every aspect of the operation; not a business

where you rely on a business structure of key processes and systems, which is a key

requirement in the Ready-to-Wear world. But despite the misgivings of people

around her, her parents still supported her in her journey to South Africa in 2005 to

learn the trade.

The first year was great and Christina did very well. “I was a bit older than the rest

and I think that helped me focus”, she reflects and she enjoyed the challenge of

thinking about the fashion business from a systems point of view rather than as a

production craft. But things really ramped up a notch in year 2.

“As one of our assignments, we had to enter a competition to design a range of

garments for Forschini. But there was an age limit and I was too old to apply. I

questioned why I was preparing an application for something that I did not qualify

for”.

So, as she was a top student with a bit more maturity than her classmates, the

teaching staff suggested that she looked at a competition that the 3rd year students

were tackling: to design a collection of 10 looks for the South African retail brand

Young Designers Emporium (commonly known as YDE) which showcases the best of

the region’s ready-to-wear designers. “It was a major decision as it would be a big

commitment in terms of time and money – if I got through then I would have to

make 150 garments at my own expense to sell in YDE stores across South Africa”.

But after talking it over with her parents, Christina grabbed the chance and

entered…and eventually got through to be one of only two people in the final stage

of the competition. “The lecturers were overjoyed I had done so well”, Christina

exclaimed.

As someone only just embarking on her 2nd year of studies, at that stage she didn’t

have a huge repertoire, having spent a year learning technique, mostly by making

skirts. The only time she had managed to spread her wings a little more was the

first-year final project where she had designed a whole outfit. She certainly had not

yet studied the technicalities of grading or adapting patterns for different sizes, a

“My Mum laughed and told me

that I was not patient enough

to sew”

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skill she would definitely need for what was to come. But all the staff mucked in to

help her. One in particular, Dudu Matore, was pivotal. As Christina explained:

“It was she who drove me to meet factory owners, introduced me to graphic

designers, embroiderers etc and worked overtime to insure I graded the patterns and

prepared them for production. She was my pillar of strength. The whole faculty

though went out of its way to basically personalise the curriculum for me to allow

me to design, plan and produce the 150 garments I had to submit".

Christina was still struggling to shake off her love of the skills of couture but Dudu,

who was a ready-to-wear specialist, mentored her and helped her find a way to

balance the quality Christina wanted with the demands of high-street

manufacturing. “It was very tough”, said Christina who reflected that she had no

social life and precious little sleep for the duration of the competition, an intense

seven months from May to November. “I was first in every morning and all the

security people knew me as I was always the last to leave at night. Yet I was always

behind schedule”.

And then disaster struck. The cut-make-trim facility that Christina had contracted to

make the garments backed out at the last minute. With no time left to replace them

the college became her workshop, with friends, lecturers and supporters becoming

the new production team, successfully completing the task in time for the 15:30

departure of the courier that took the 150 garments to Johannesburg on the last

possible day.

Did she win? No she didn’t. “But I know why. My clothes were too expensive and

the winner was much more in tune with the Young Designers Emporium customer”,

explained Christina. The winner also had 10 years’ more experience than her in the

business which clearly had an impact. But in spite of this Christina believed that the

process was hugely beneficial. In particular she learned that she did not want to

design for other people. She knew she had to find her own aesthetic voice and then

find a way of making it buyer-worthy, reflecting current trends without losing sight

of the aesthetic.

2 interlocking businesses:

XstinA Creations and Kamanga Wear

So in 2008 Christina returned to Zambia much wiser but physically and emotionally

drained. “For a whole year I did nothing that was fashion-related”, she admitted.

But when she got going again, she established her first business, XstinA Creations, as

a ready-to-wear design and manufacturing enterprise, shortly followed by

Kamanaga Wear, an ethnic and eclectic ready-to-wear brand as a showcase and

outlet for the manufacturing expertise of XstinA Creations.

“I was first in every morning

and all the security people

knew me as I was always the

last to leave at night.”

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“Initially my focus was on developing XstinA Creations but I realised

that to do that, I had to first concentrate on getting Kamanga Wear up

and running”. It was also through developing Kamanga Wear that

Christina has found out exactly where her strengths and interests lie.

Although she has mastered the creative processes of design (finding it

very rewarding) and is an excellent illustrator, she is happy to let

creatives far more passionate than her handle the detailed process of

garment design, while she concentrates on taking those ideas and

making them realisable in a practical way. She makes the patterns,

solves the production problems and makes it all happen. Clearly she

also loves the business aspect of the enterprise too. So ignoring her

mother’s early advice of staying hands on in all aspects of business,

Christina has now surrounded herself with a great team within Kamanga Wear that

is continuing to grow. Creative Director and co-founder of Kamanga Wear, Donna, is

in charge of the design of the collections, fulfilment of orders and sales in the

Lusaka- based studio and the online shop www.kamangawear.com which will be live

in November 2016. New partner, Fay, is coming on board to drive business

development, with a focus on marketing, branding, lead generation and sales.

The Nyamuka Zambia experience

So why did Christina apply for the inaugural Nyamuka Zambia Business

Plan Competition in 2015? Her direct answer was that she was looking

for opportunities. She had been invited to take part in South Africa

Fashion Week early in 2015, in itself a huge opportunity and a

validation that she really is carving a reputation for herself in this

demanding industry. Even Christina’s mum now had to admit that she

is a real, professional fashion designer – not bad for someone who her

mother said would never have the patience!

As Christina was packing up to go to South Africa she heard about

Nyamuka Zambia. “I knew that I was struggling to define my business

and I thought the competition might help. And of course the chance of

a cash prize was a bonus”, she explained. So as soon as she got back to Lusaka she

got hold of the forms and applied. A few short weeks later she was a finalist and

prize winner. As she expressed, clarity comes with concentrated effort and having

the opportunity to concentrate in a profoundly focused way on her business allowed

her to start to define her business strategy better. Indeed, as Christina explained,

“The Nyamuka Zambia experience really helped me get to grips with my business

and fulfilled my need 10-times over”. The workshops and one-to-one mentoring

that Christina received during the competition gave her a much better insight into

the whole business planning process and she found the support system – that she

can still call on even now – was hugely beneficial.

But Christina feels that the biggest lesson she has learned as a result of her

participation in the competition has come only recently in the light of experience.

“Having continued to work on my plan I now realise that, given the choice again, I

would not have spent all my winnings (K75,000) on sewing machines and workshop

facilities. It was what I wanted, not what I needed. Instead, I would have spent it on

Christina at South Africa Fashion Week 2015

Donna, Creative Director of Kamanga Wear

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a marketing campaign and fabric stocks, as cash flow has been my biggest issue in

the short term”.

Having said that, in the medium term the outcome is likely to be pretty much the

same and Christina’s increasing clarity of vision and purpose will hone and

improve her decision-making going forward. She also stated that she has

learned that business plans do not have to be written in tablets of stone and

that, as long as you stick to your overall vision for the business, it is OK to change

and adapt the plan in the light of circumstances. In fact it is crucial to survive.

The future is bright

So what does the future hold for Christina and her business? At the moment most

sales of Kamanga Wear are handled by the Lusaka shop but Christina and the team

are now working aggressively to get an online store up and running, due to launch in

a matter of a few short weeks. The plan is that this will allow the brand to be

available to a much wider audience, both nationally and internationally, reaching in

particular the diaspora market around the world where Christina sees a major

market potential.

The Unique selling factor of Christina’s online model is that the team can keep the

sourcing of fabric local thereby supporting a multitude local traders who rely on the

sales of Chitenge material to sustain their livelihoods, thus contributing to

the sustenance of the local textile market.

“This is important to us” Christina emphasised. “We want to keep as

much of our processes local. Even if fabric is not manufactured here in

Zambia we want to support local suppliers who earn a living through their

trade and to support local tailors who earn a living through their skills.

We want to use local models, photographers, graphic designers, stylists,

bloggers, web designers, etc. For too long career paths in the creative

fields have been frowned upon and marginalised and we want to open up

opportunities. We are determined to challenge that status quo”.

By offering clients the ability to customise the fabric option of their

Kamanga garments, not only can Christina and the team stay true to their

philosophy, but they can also give clients an opportunity to be unique.

Customers will get a personalised and quick delivery service to their

door without requiring the company to hold vast stocks of finished

goods. If this can be achieved then it will not only prove that the Kamanga Wear

business model is robust, it will also allow Christina to support her community by

providing secure and sustainable employment for an expanded team of tailors as

well as building the reputation of the enterprise.

Ultimately Christina is aiming to devote most of her personal attention in the future

to developing XstinA Creations or “emancipate it” as Christina described it. It would

then not just be the manufacturing arm for Kamanga Wear but can evolve to be a

supplier of design and manufacturing services to other fashion brands and clients in

Zambia and beyond.

A classic Kamanga Wear dress

As long as you stick to your

overall vision for the business,

it is OK to change and adapt

the plan.

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When asked what the hardest thing was about the Nyamuka Zambia

experience, I expected Christina to talk about the time pressures, the hard

work and the relentless deadlines. But no. Her reply was that the worst

thing was not winning the top prize of K250,000; “I am very competitive, you

see”, she admitted. But she then went on to state that the money was in no

way the most important aspect of her Nyamuka Zambia experience.

“The very best thing was that Nyamuka Zambia brought me real clarity of

vision and purpose. That is what Nyamuka did for me, and is still doing. I would

definitely do it all again.”

www.kamangawear.com [live November 2016]

“Nyamuka Zambia brought me

real clarity of vision and purpose.

That is what Nyamuka did for me,

and it is still doing”

Photographs courtesy of Kamanga Wear