Enterprise

Social group Tosheka Textile walks from the Lions’ Den with Sh8m

carpet

A member of Tosheka Textile group spinning cotton fibre to make yarn using a home-made drop spindle (left) and a hand-woven carpet made from cotton yarn (right). PHOTO | FILE

Kenyan social enterprise Tosheka Textile has walked away with Sh8 million in capital injection after two panellists of the reality show Lions’ Den invested in the firm in exchange for a 20 per cent stake.

Tosheka, which has contracted over 3,000 people, makes fashionable textile line using natural and recycled fibres as well as using environmentally-friendly techniques that preserve traditional skills and knowledge.

Vivo Active wear managing director Wandia Gichuru and fashion and modelling mogul Olive Gachara offered Tosheka’s executive director Lucy Bigham the funds to purchase equipment.

Ms Bigham’s winning pitch was about eri silkworms, which the five-year-old company wants to introduce.

This species are relatively cheap and easy to maintain while their silk is valued for its strong and supple fabric it produces.

“The 3,000 people we have engaged can help us produce about 250 square metres of fabric that will project sales revenue of about Sh182 million per annum,” she told the Lions’ Den panellists.

Lions’ Den is an entrepreneurship show, a spinoff of the popular Shark Tank show. The show is a collaboration of KCB Bank Kenya, NTV and Quite Bright Films Kenya (QBF).

The panel is made up of five individuals, referred to as ‘lions’, who are leaders in different business fields. They are Chandaria Industries’ Darshan Chandaria, Telkom Kenya enterprise division managing director Kris Senanu Homeboyz chief executive Myke Rabar and Ms Gichuru.

Ms Gachara is the founder of fashion magazine Couture Africa and an Image Consultant with Olive Image.

During the show, which airs on Mondays, entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to the ‘lions’ who, if convinced of the viability and scalability of the venture, invest in them.

Tosheka Textiles -which has 23 percent profit margins- has already invested Sh50.5 million in the silk project and intends to train local communities on how to produce it.

Eri silk is preferred to commonly used mulberry silk because it adopts well in dry areas. This type of silkworms are not bred in the region and Ms Bigham says they will have a first to market advantage.

“With eri silk, farmers can realise returns within a period of 19 to 26 days as opposed to say cotton that takes up to a year to mature,” she told the Business Daily in a telephone interview.

Tosheka’s products are hand crafted using fair labour practices. The designs are inspired by the Kenyan culture, colours and textures.

The company’s three fashion lines include the Safi Tosheka Collection which is a gold standard leather goods line and the Woven Love collection that features bags, textiles and apparel made using plarn and natural fibres.

The third fashion line is the Recycled Treasures Eco - Fashionable Collection which consists of trend-relevant, contemporary designed, hand crafted bags by Kenyan artisans from clean recycled plastic bags.

“They (the two investors) are not only bringing in the money but also their distribution channels and their marketing if you look at the bigger picture,” Ms Bigham said after the show.