Gladys Chibanda, a young multi-award-winning creative entrepreneur has always been fascinating and challenging to me. She started her entrepreneurial journey at a very young age, and that alone has been a reason for the appraisal.
When asked who Gladys Chibanda was, she briefly described herself as a multi-award-winning Creative Entrepreneur, Founder of Krafted Ink, and Brand Identity Designer.
Chibanda said, “My journey as Creative Entrepreneur started in 2017 when I began the handmade gift packaging company. For Chibanda, the company was an opportunity to showcase her talent in designing clothes, knitting, and all sorts of crafts.
Having been surrounded by parents who are business owners and entrepreneurs, the apple did not fall far from the tree. Chibanda’s mother is a business lady, and her father is an Artist. From such a background Chibanda had an opportunity to learn a lot about business from them.
From Childhood, Chibanda had always wanted to be a businesswoman, however, due to societal pressures at one point, she considered biomedical engineering. Chibanda ‘s passion for the craft was however reignited in 2017 after she was frustrated by staying at home awaiting the A-level results.
“During my stay at home, I realized African print material had begun to trend and it meant there was growth in textile waste, particularly of the African print material so that’s when it dawned to me that I needed to do something with these offcut pieces and that’s how Krafted Ink was born”, she narrated
When asked what was the key driving force toward her entrepreneurial journey Chibanda said her company solves environmental issues, particularly textile waste problems. She said one of her strengths is helping small businesses with packaging solutions. Her company’s key priorities are to help companies strengthen relationships with stakeholders and also help individuals celebrate special events such as birthdays, anniversaries, and graduations with handmade African textile gifts.
Chibanda said Krafted Ink managed to gain and maintain several customer bases due to professionalism. Chibanda said each time they got a customer Krafted Ink would make it a point to redefine the art of gift packaging with ideas and innovations that are rich, beautiful, effective, and with a touch of the African Ubuntu standards of gifts.
“In the next five years, as Krafted ink we intend to reduce the number of paper packaging that is imported every year in Zimbabwe by at least 10%. We will be empowering young people with economically viable skills especially women on how to make packaging in the next couple of months”, she said.
Chibanda ‘s advice to all upcoming business people is to make something people want not what you think they want.
” The world is full of opportunities to make other people’s lives better in some way, and your job as a business person is to identify the things people don’t have enough of, then find ways to provide themselves “, she said.
