Market-related business practices can drive sustainable development in SA

Market-related business practices

can drive sustainable development in SA

Mainstream social development initiatives often fail to reach the most vulnerable parts of society. When presented with opportunities, talented people who are surviving despite enormous challenges often fail to achieve their potential because they lack financial knowledge and business acumen, not to mention access to market and emotional support.

Beatrice Delpierre is the owner and operations director of essay GIFTS and Kids Positive. essay GIFTS is a Proudly South African gifting company with a unique business model in which the company forms the link between corporate clients and artists, artisans and craftspeople in the informal sector. This enables the former to support local talent while assuring a premium product is delivered in full, on time.

Over the years the company has developed a carefully curated gift portfolio from a range of talented craftspeople who have proven themselves to be trustworthy, creative and attentive to detail. essay GIFTS finds the clients, brokers the deals, develops the gift idea and manages the production process from conception to delivery.

“essay GIFTS was founded in the belief that market-related business practices can drive sustainable development in South Africa. It can create the opportunity for people to make a living without having to migrate to urban centres and leave their families and communities behind,” says Delpierre, whose portfolio of artists is located all over the country.

“We want to empower people, and especially women, to become self-sufficient.”

The entrepreneur behind the company

Never intending to work in the gifting sector, Delpierre qualified as pharmacist in 1995 and worked as an area manager for a large pharmaceutical company in the UK. She needed a new challenge and wanted to make a difference in people’s lives when the family moved back to South Africa in the mid-2000s. Thus essay GIFTS was born, its name a play on the essay, or story, every artist brings to their project.

Delpierre comes from a family of social entrepreneurs. Her great-aunt founded the Maria Kloppers/Abraham Kriel orphanage in Johannesburg more than 100 years ago, which is still taking care of children today.

“Maria Kloppers built her enterprise on faith, something I can relate to,” Delpierre comments.

Kidzpositive Positive Beadwork Project

In 2015, on learning that Kidzpositive Family Fund, an NGO she worked with, was about to close down because of the loss of external financial support, Delpierre decided to take this project under her wing. The Kidzpositive Positive Beadwork Project was originally designed as a means for mothers and caregivers of HIV positive children treated at Groote Schuur Hospital to earn a dependable income.

Delpierre stepped in and Kidzpositive today still offers these women the opportunity to put food on the table, working from home, while also taking care of sick children and other family members.

“At Kidzpositive, we currently support about 45 mothers, each of whom supports on average, seven family members and some as many as 13 dependents. Our short-term goal is to make life more bearable for all who attend or take part in the project. Our long-term ideal is to provide adult education, in-service training, early childhood development instruction and advice, as well as whatever ad hoc developmental projects we can fund to help promote adolescent resilience,” Delpierre adds.

“We have also worked closely with the Grow Education centre trainers to design courses and workshops on time management, early childhood development, positive behaviour and guidance on how to manage finances.”

From humble beginnings, making AIDS pin flags, they now design custom projects and complete quality orders of several thousand items.

“From the point of view of the crafters, they can work at home and gain access to a system which efficiently markets and distributes their products. They experience on-going peer-group support and benefit from improved morale and a sense of

community, which we can clearly see translates into a shift in their perspective on life. We can see how hope and possibility change people,” says Delpierre.

Standing out among the competition

With the stiffest competition being cheap imports from the East, working with these informal crafters has its challenges.

“The approach at Kidzpositive and essay GIFTS has always been to offer potential clients something importers cannot provide: customised unique gifts that are directly linked with their brand, event theme or campaign. All products are anecdotes, accompanied by a customised tag with a story about the project and the woman who made it,” says Delpierre.

Collaboration is key

The tough economic climate has forced Delpierre to develop alternative streams of income outside that of corporate gifting.

“The biggest issue has been to convince corporate South Africa to form partnerships with organisations such as ours, so that an even bigger impact can be made at grass roots level,” she explains.

Fortunately, the nature of essay GIFTS and Kidzpositive means there is a natural link to green sustainability. Since 2018, essay GIFTS has worked closely with Woolworths to develop visual merchandising and award-winning display installations for the festive season, made from more than 10 000 upcycled water bottles, which kept the crafters busy during a quiet time of the year.

The key driver behind Kidzpositive is the will to empower women to become self-sufficient while supporting them in working in a challenging, innovative, income generating environment underpinned by the importance of self-worth. This requires perseverance and the support of philanthropic volunteers and our corporate partners. ■