El proyecto

The business started as a hobby in her garage and grew into a business due to demand for the leather products. Ilundi Manufacture and sell genuine leather bags and accessories. Having 3 stalls in Cape town: Neighbourgoods market, V&A watershed and a studio in Salt River, Cape Town. Ilundi products are labours of love. They can take up to 14 hours to make by hand. Every hole is hand punched and every stitch hand sewn. No sewing machines are used. They prefer to do things with just their hands, which is the hard way but also the best way. They sew their products with the reliable saddle stitch, which is one of the oldest stitches used in leather work and also use a waxed thread for extra durability and added wear protection. Ilundi hires staff that are unskilled and trains them to be the best. Currently having 4 employees.

The business grew organically in the beginning, and from year 3 onwards it has grown over 100% each year. The business faced different challenges from year to year. In the beginning, the main challenges were general business administration and juggling multiple roles by herself. Then midway the main challenge was bridging capital. Now, as there growing rapidly, it is project management. With the Lulalend funding of R150k, the company was able to move to a bigger studio, purchase a new leather cutting machine and hire more staff to support the growing business.