Idea to product

Ntom’benhle Dolls are conceptualized, designed and created by Kgomo. She designed the dolls as typical South African black girls reflecting the brown skin, brown eyes and short hair. The range has a collection of eight 36- cm-tall dolls, all dressed in traditional costumes representing eight of South African ethnic groups: Zulu, Sotho, Pedi, Swazi, Ndebele, Venda, Tsonga and Xhosa. Kgomo believes that something as simple as a doll can not only help children understand their own cultural background, but also impact positively on their self-esteem. She says African dolls can play a role in the attitudes of young girls toward beauty and how they see themselves as adults in later life. In addition, the African dolls can nurture tolerance among people of different races and cultural backgrounds on the play ground, according to her. Kgomo is proud of her range of dolls and feels thankful that her business is growing. But behind the success is a stream of challenges she has had to overcome. Previously a flight attendant with British Airways and South African Airways, Kgomo had chances to visit many countries. On her travels, she came across many black dolls in the U. S. Her mother who traveled a lot on business tours also found nice black dolls in Germany. But back in Africa, they were scarce and Kgomo felt that there was obviously a market for them. With the idea in mind, she looked for doll manufacturers on the Internet and found many in Hong Kong, China. “I tried to find the one that I could go and see, and talk to. We made an appointment and I went to China to meet with the manufacturing people and told them what I wanted to do. And that’s the way it got started,” said Kgomo. On her visit to China in 2005, she took a book called Vanishing Cultures of South Africa to help the manufacturer, who had never made a black doll before, know what it was she wanted. While the dolls were being manufactured, Kgomo sourced local fabrics used to make the traditional outfits the dolls wear. She also enlisted the services of local women to produce the beadwork and accessories found on the Ndebele and Zulu dolls.