For sisters and co-founders, Moshibudi Piet and Lehlogonolo Phala, Sabafuraha started off as a passion project. “Sabafuraha was initially an opportunity for us to create beautiful designs and make cute stuff, because as my sister says, “Life is too short to wear boring scrubs.” We’ve since realized that we can accomplish our desire to revolutionize the healthcare industry by providing unique and vibrant African print scrubs.” – Moshibudi Piet.
In November 2021, Sabafuraha caught the attention of a panel of lead clothing firms while pitching their value proposition at the Dragons’ Den, part of the Cape Clothing and Textile Cluster’s Small Business Accelerator programme. Sabafuraha was awarded “Best Business Case” and R20,000 prize money.
Since joining the Cape Clothing and Textile Cluster’s Small Business Accelerator programme, Sabafuraha have received business case development mentorship from an industry expert, skills training opportunities through the cluster’s Team Leader and Emerging Leader development programmes and completed the cluster’s detailed benchmarking study.
Listed among the value derived from their participation in the Accelerator, was completing the cluster’s GrowthFinder Diagnostic, an online benchmarking study that enabled Sabafuraha understand how they rank in terms of industry standards and ensures an understanding of their current state to develop and grow.
After working closely with an experienced industry mentor throughout the programme, Moshibudi shares that she was reinspired to start designing again and her newly release print is now available on Sabafuraha’s website.
What’s next for Sabafuraha?
Having recently received funding from the Impact Foundation, Sabafuraha are looking to grow their team by hiring three full time sales representatives and a fashion designer. They are also expanding their product offering to include a corporate-wear range.
“We’ve learnt to focus on what we love, how to build community, collaborate with our customers and focus on creating jobs to sustain families that depend on this in the long-term. We’re also still learning to enjoy the present and to stop living in the unknown future.” – Moshibudi Piet
