This creative woman quit her job as a textile designer at a clothing factory to pursue a passion for creating beautiful, functional bags from discarded materials.
The name for the business, The Wren Design, actually came from a drawing I did of a bird. I had always loved drawing birds, before I even knew I wanted to start a business, and then when the time came, I thought that I could use the image of the bird as my logo and name. Someone then suggested ‘how about the name Wren for the business’ and it just fitted with my name, Wendren – and so my company, The Wren Design, was born. From that point on, we carried the name through the brand and it has managed to hold its own ever since.
I originally started in textile design and went into the design industry at first, but didn’t find it challenging or inspiring. I found it quite hard to get a job, and when I did, the job was very 9 to 5, clocking in and clocking out, and not really what I wanted to do with my life. So, I had to find something else to do to make money. I started out by making bags and then someone suggested I start to sell them online, which was so easy to do given that the retail shops were quite hard to break into at the time. We started with our online business and then over time we grew until we reached where we are today, 5 years down the line. It is quite incredible, when you open yourself up to opportunities, then other things happen, for example, I was invited to start lecturing in design, which also helped to create some stable income whilst building the business. It means that you can do the things you love, be creative, without all the pressures to make the bills at the end of the month, and similar business challenges.
So, what gives me the most satisfaction as an entrepreneur? Well, I love that every day is different. I love it when I can see all the people that work with me are doing better, achieving their goals and realizing their dreams in a way that they could never have achieved on their own. It is very rewarding.
We have an interesting set up in the business at The Wren Design. We don’t directly employ people, we work with sub-contractors, which allows us to keep our overheads to a minimum but still produce the goods. I never wanted to be a factory and I really like inspiring and building up other people. It probably comes from the fact that everyone is a teacher in my family. So, all the ladies who work for me, and the men, they have all set up their own businesses and they supply me with my bespoke products. Our business represents around 90% of their work, and as a result, we have a trust relationship – they know I depend on them and they in turn depend on me. That is how we have built up our business, and theirs, over the years. It is great because we have created small entrepreneurial hubs both here in South Africa and on the African continent. Our sub-contractors all had the essential craft techniques we needed, we have simply helped them over time to perfect their crafts to a quality that is required for our business and the products we create. It has been a long journey to ensure we have the highest quality and standards of craftsmanship in our products.
In terms of challenges faced on my entrepreneurial journey, actually I have enjoyed all the challenges of learning everything from finance, to marketing, to skills development, etc. Entering the export market I found quite hard to understand initially. We export into Europe and the CBI is coming in to help, and in fact, they have helped hugely in assisting me to tailor my range so that it is stronger for these new markets. That for me has been a big challenge, to find what sells in these new markets and then to have the confidence to go ahead with just that product, and then really push it to make it fit the trends. The challenge is working out how to get a product into the market in the right way, and then to effectively penetrate that market – that has been a key challenge. We are in quite a few overseas markets now, predominantly Europe, not in a big way, but I am not sure I want to be big at this moment. The US is a market we are looking at for the future, but we are not sure quite how to penetrate that market right now. The biggest challenge we have picked up with the US market is the price point. We have such strict labour laws, which is a good thing because it protects the people, but it is difficult to keep the price down because we have to import so much material, and South Africa’s cotton industry has gone through the floor, and it is therefore really hard to export and sell a product that is competitively priced.
So, what gives me the most satisfaction as an entrepreneur? Well, I love that every day is different. I love it when I can see all the people that work with me are doing better, achieving their goals and realizing their dreams in a way that they could never have achieved on their own. It is very rewarding.
The highlight of my entrepreneurial journey so far was actually making a profit for the first time. It was so exciting and happened last year, in 2013. We went from really struggling to the complete opposite. As a result, it meant I could be in business full time and really start going places. It is a really exciting point in time for me and the business right now. In terms of future plans for the business, with the help of the CBI, they have really assisted me to tailor the business, and what you see now in the range is a focus on the paper sleeves, the bags and the full paper product range. That is what we are now building and it represents quite an exciting direction for us, with designers creating our prints and our crafters producing the end results. We are excited to have found a niche in the market, our own space in which to do business.
Why LoA loves it....
We just love the fabulous paper sleeves and bags made by Wendren and her team at The Wren Design. They are beautiful, unique and are the must-have items for anyone who wants to have something that is functional, unusual and that also makes a great social contribution to entrepreneurship in Africa. Take a look at The Wren Design product range on the website, simply stunning. --- Melanie