I am busy moulding my future one pot at a time

The results of this process are artistic pots with mosaic patterns crafted from glass pieces and white cement.

“Our customers are falling in love with the glass-embedded pots,” says the Mombasa-based businessman who has a market as far as Nairobi.

Mr Hinzano says their customers mainly comprise the middle and high class living in Nyali area and other parts of coast.

The business fetches him Sh80,000 monthly.

It has been a long journey for Mr Hinzano in the world of business. After dropping out of school in Class Five due to lack of fees, the young Hinzano started looking for casual work. He was later employed by a wealthy Italian within Mombasa town in early 1990s. This is where he started making pots during his spare time.

Once he felt he had garnered sufficient knowledge and skills on pot-making, he set about establishing his business in 1997, an enterprise that has grown tremendously and now has 15 employees.

He markets his products through displaying them by the roadside.

He says one of the most important skills in the business is communication, adding that he trains his workers to deal with customers courteously.

“We handle clients from all walks of life and knowing how to speak to them nicely is my priority,” says Mr Hinzano.

He is also working on passing the skills of the business to his children. His 19-year-old son, Ngala Hinzano, can independently make a pot from the moulding stage to embedding the shiny glasses.

When on holidays, Ngala, a Form Three student, is busy at his father’s shed, when he is not studying.

“Many youth never want to work in the pot industry. They only want white collar jobs,” says Ngala.

He advises his peers to embrace the industry instead of focusing on the office jobs. The craft, he says, can employ young people and prevent them from wasting away in drugs or engaging in crime.

“Educated or not, one can learn the basic skills and master the art of making the pots,” says Ngala as he artfully works on the second last stage of sticking glass pieces on a pot.

Mr Hinzano employs workers on contract but he is generous enough to allow them to go and start their businesses once they have mastered the art.  If they are unable to start their own ventures, he employs them permanently in the shed.

Mr Hinzano’s wife, Lucy, is also a worker there. “After being married, I only did house chores but with encouragement from my family, I learnt how to make pots and I can now pay all my bills,” says Mrs Hinzano as she works on a pot. Meanwhile, her baby girl is sleeping next to her. She has been in the industry for two years.

The prices of the pots range from Sh1,000 to Sh10,000 depending on the size.

The glass used to make the pots are brought from dumpsites.

“The pots have a guarantee of six years. They can persevere harsh climatic conditions. Also one can repaint them to look new,” says Mr Hinzano.

He says the enterprise pays well if well managed: “My children won’t lack if they work in this industry. Alongside the knowledge they get from school, making pots will be an added advantage,” he says.

Although Mr Hinzano has made great strides in the business, challenges abound, one of which is lack of a good market.

“Sometimes we sell three pots in a month and I have to pay the workers,” he laments.

The funds for expanding the business is also hard to come by and getting the raw materials can be an uphill task as well.

Mr Hinzano advises the youth to create jobs when they can’t get them: “The youth should learn to be hardworking and persevere in order to be successful in any endeavour,” he says. “Easy money or stealing from other people is unfair. Our youth should be focused, hardworking and doing genuine jobs.”