Enterprise

Woman juggles NGO day job with art as a side business

NGO

Tigo Art and Fashion founder Goretty Obure. PHOTO | FILE

Walking along Kisumu’s Kibos Road, next to Joventure Hotel, one cannot help but admire the beautifully painted pots, African bead jewellery and interior décor items such as curtains, cushions and artificial flowers are displayed for sale.

All this glamour is the work of Tigo Art and Fashion House, an enterprise that is partly owned by a young woman who does art as a side hustle to her main job as a monitoring and evaluation officer.

We find Goretty Obure at her desk making a necklace. Her eyes are fixed on the beads in the plate, as she picks one by one to fit in the thin curved metal rod.

She is the brains behind the business that also designs African print clothing, makes beaded jewellery, African theme bags, paints pots as well as dabbling in interior design.

“Jewellery beads are the easiest to make and take the shortest time. However, the more complex bead design the more time spent,” says the 31-year-old entrepreneur.

The necklaces cost between Sh300 and Sh1,500, while the earrings and bracelets range from Sh50 to Sh300, depending on the complexity of the design.

Ms Obure also makes colourful bags blended with Kente or Ankara African print materials with a price range of between Sh500 to Sh1,500.

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Besides jewellery, Ms Obure has also ventured into African textiles and interior décor. She makes attire with African prints for women and men at Sh1,000. 

She uses dried leaves, papyrus reeds from Dunga Beach, and dye from Kibuye Market to paint the artificial flowers.
Tigo Art and Fashion’s customers are mainly from Kisumu and its environs, Siaya, Oyugis, and even Nairobi. She is now marketing her artwork on social media to expand the business’ reach.

In a month, Obure says, the entrepreneur makes more than Sh50,000. The businesswoman, who has diploma in medical laboratory technology and a degree in social sciences from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, started the venture six years ago with a friend.

Her passion for art started while she was a student at St Teresa Girls High School in Kisumu. She used to design Valentine’s Day cards and make handmade jewellery using skills she learned from her mother. 

“Back then, I was a freelancer. I would make beads while in school and walk around selling them in offices,” she told Enterprise.

Apart from jewellery, Ms Obure developed interest in pottery after completing her diploma studies. Together with friends, they would paint clients’ pots for as much as Sh500.

Ms Obure, a monitoring and evaluation officer at Afri-Can Trust in Kisumu, says she injected Sh30,000 of her personal savings into the business to kick it off.

“I started Tigo because artwork has always been my passion. I have never regretted that decision,” she told Enterprise.

Her advice to entrepreneurs is that one should pick investments that they are passionate about.

For those that are wary of not getting time to work at full-time jobs and run a business, she says it is possible, noting that one should invest in people to help run the business but maintain a hands-on supervisory role.