Unemployed man starts a furniture business to create income to survive the bad economic conditions
Decor with tyres, planks and strings
The country’s grave economic condition was an impetus for a 40-year-old North West entrepreneur to teach himself how to make furniture.
Patrick Mokonyane, from Brits, said: “I was last employed in October last year, when I worked for my uncle’s real estate company in Rustenburg.
“Before that I worked for a courier company in Midrand for three years, and that job ended in 2009, so I decided to start making outdoor and indoor furniture. I started learning in October last year, using only the internet.
“I learned how to make indoor coffee tables through a YouTube video,” he said.
Mokonyane’s company, Indoor and Outdoor Furniture, makes garden tables, coffee tables and sofas. “We make chairs out of used tyres. We use strings to reinforce the tyres and planks to create tables,” he said. Indoor and Outdoor Furniture is based at Mokonyane’s home in Brits.
When asked if the furniture was durable, Mokonyane insisted the furniture is so firm and solid one could easily sleep comfortably on it.
He said a garden set of four chairs and a table sells for R1500. “I do not make that much profit, but I can live.”
Like many start-up businesses, Indoor and Outdoor Furniture faces some challenges. “We usually get about 10 people placing orders, but only two people actually finalise their orders,” he said.
Mokonyane said he works strictly on orders because he does not have storage for his work. “If I have all the material I can complete an order in a day,” he said.
He said his customers are mostly individuals and corporates like golf courses, event companies and companies buying products for entertainment areas.
Mokonyane said he had always had a liking for decor.
“I enjoyed watching Top Billing. When I used to live in Arcadia, Pretoria, I came across a piece of log and I thought I could make a piece of furniture out of it. I vanished it and put some wheels on it and it became my coffee table. That was five years ago and the passion never left me,” he said.
Never one to fold his arms, Mokonyane recalled how he tried to equip himself with different skills when his uncle recruited him into his real estate business. “I went for a course [in real estate] for a month [and] my passion for decor did not die because we worked at a lot with new developments.
“The decor I was exposed to inspired me. After school I worked as a dispatcher at a courier company in Midrand, but when that job ended I rented out four flats with my savings. I then rented out those flats to tertiary students and that is how I survived.” He
Mokonyane studied for two years towards a bachelor’s degree in public administration and psychology at Unisa.
“I had to drop out because there was no money to continue studying,” he said.
The unmarried businessman has a 14-year-old daughter.
I came across a piece of log and I thought I could make ... furniture ...