 welcome back to Tuesday entrepreneurship. My name is Joy Mochache. My social media handles are joy underscore mochache. This is hashtag going in the morning. Remember to always put your hashtag Tuesday entrepreneurship. The way you can get in touch with us is through our Facebook that is Y254 channel. On Twitter it is Y254 channel as well on an Instagram. It's Y254 underscore channel. Remember you can catch up on everything that you've missed and everything that you want to watch again on YouTube. We also want you to subscribe to us on YouTube. It's the same name Y254 channel. I'd like to welcome our next guest today. We've got a wonderful entrepreneur. She's a young young lady who has started a business where she works with leather to create beautiful pieces such as bags, belts, and other things that she will showcase and share with us. Her name is Violet Karyuki. Virginia Karyuki, excuse me, Karybisana Miss Karyuki. Welcome so much to our show. Thank you. Yes. And so you are an entrepreneur, young entrepreneur. Not only that, you are a feminist. I am a feminist. And you are what we call a pro-African. Yes. I'd like to know what that means. Okay, let me tell a story. So a couple of weeks late, a couple of weeks earlier a friend of mine was asking me if I would think about like doing mass production in China. So I was like, well, my brand, the logo is Vicarote, then the phrase is handmade in Kenya. So for me, what sets my items apart is A, that the fact that it's an African brand, it's a Kenyan brand. We make it here locally. And for anyone to buy it either locally or abroad or anywhere else, then you will know that this item has gone through a whole process where it's people who are actually interacting with it. So you're buying, when anyone buys a piece of my item, I feel like they get a couple, like a piece of my soul and heart because everything goes into it, the design process, the whole beadwork, the stitching, although I have someone who does the stitching for me. So that is what I mean by pro-Africa. And also I would love to portray the beautiful side of Africa and the beautiful side of Kenya because we have a lot of people on mainstream TV, whenever you go and search maybe Africa or Kenya, like the whole situation with the suit, that got such a huge coverage. And people usually look at Africa as a third world continent or something, but we have so many things going on for us. I feel like the fashion brand, the African one, especially the Ankara in Kitenge, are really being appreciated at the moment. So that is what I mean by being pro-African. Oh, I see. So you support all things African? All things African. I think I'm pro-African too then. I think I'm pro-African too, that's the case because I do love to support all things African. I love your pieces. They're beautiful. I can smell the leather. You guys should smell this. Hopefully you can smell the leather. It's genuine stuff, I tell you. I'd like to talk about the name. It's V Curotet Designs. Yes. How did you, what does the V Curotet mean? Okay, so V stands for my name, Virginia. I'm very proud of that name. I don't know why, I just love it. No, it's a beautiful name. It's a beautiful name. Curotet is Masai, although I'm not Masai, I have a thing for the Masai culture. Yes, because they're unapologetically African. Right? And I feel like it's the one brand that when anyone thinks Kenya, they think Masai. And they have such beautiful beadwork items. So since I work with beadwork, then I figured then the name should come from an ethnic culture that we have here. So the name is Masai. And then it means precious handcrafts. Precious handcrafts. Because the crafts are handmade and they're precious to me and to everyone. So yes. Speaking of handmade, so it means precious handcrafts. These pieces I'm looking at are handmade. They're handmade. Okay, we stitch them using a sewing machine. Yes. But yes, they're all handmade. So that means there's a lot of detail that goes into it. Yes. Yeah, that's the soul you're talking about. That is the soul I was talking about. The hard work. It's not just coming out of my machine. Right. In bulk. In bulk. In mass production, you set in some, some whatever, some details. And then 10 minutes later, you have like 10 hundred pieces. Yes. It's nothing like that. They're very special pieces. And I actually respect designers who take the time to make one by one pieces like this and even take the time to make them handcrafted, adding small little embellishments and details to them. I really respect that. Thank you. Yes. And I'd like to ask, how did you start this off? How did this all begin? How did V. Kurtz designs, you know, get a move on? Okay. So at my friends, it wasn't a bit bizarre. So when she got, when she gave birth to her kid, when we had gone to her, to hospital, so see her. So I saw her sister in law in this bracelet, a Maasai bracelet, the one sold at Maasai market. Okay. At that moment, I had been an employee for a cleared campus, I think, in 2014. That is when I graduated. So this was like three years ago. So I figured I was like, that looks pretty, but I think I can make it. So I mentioned it to my friend and he was like, okay, I dare you to do it. I dare you. Yes. So I went, I, we bought some beads. We bought things that I figured that would be used to make, to make the bracelet. I went home. I spent like four hours making one bracelet because I had no idea like how to go out to go about it, but it turned out okay. And then the following day, I took it to him out like, see, I can actually do it, but it took so much time. I didn't know it would be this difficult. So he told me he can get someone to teach me to do the beadwork. And then so from there, I just learned the basic beadwork items. So how to make like basically the beadwork and the jewelry that you can see at Masai market, that is how I started. So I then graduated to working with brass and horn when I was going to buy some more supplies. I met this guy who had these beautiful pieces, the brass and horn. So we, we, we met. I said I gave him at the beginning, I gave him the designs and he did them for me. And then after a while, when he had forged a relationship, I went and got into his workshop. And then he was very kind. He actually taught me how to do it. Yes. So whenever I'm free and have some bit of time, I can go there and we can work together. But mostly he does a production for me whenever I'm not so busy whenever I'm busy. And then for the bugs, I saw a bug, a very beautiful bug being sold in town. So that's how much it was. I was told 35. So in my head, I was like, it's 3500. So I went with through my money. I'm like, okay, yeah, give me my bag. So she's like, well, it's 30, it's 35,000. I was like, oh, oh, okay. So why she explained that it was leather, but you know, you can, you can feel, you can feel the difference of genuine leather and resin. Yes. So in as much as it was maybe higher quality resin, it didn't feel like leather. It was a fake piece. Yes. So I figured, then let me, let me look for someone who can make for me a leather bug. I got someone and then I wanted my piece to stand out. I wanted it to represent the things that I love and had come to appreciate the work that goes into beadwork. So when the bug was made, I did a copy of the pattern, a very simple one. And then a friend of mine saw it and she was so interested. So I was like, okay, cool. You want one? Yes. So I made one for her. And I figured this can be a business. So we started the bug business. And that's how it began. That is how it began. That's a beautiful story. Thank you. That's so interesting. Yeah. So you want to tell me that there are pieces out there. What did you call it? That looks like leather, resin. I'm sure I bought something thinking it was leather. And it's probably that because there's sometimes something you buy, it's genuinely leather. Then like four, five years down the lane, this one went. Then you're like, hold up a second. You start asking yourself because you're like, but this thing looked so genuine in the beginning. Even the price was so genuine. Exactly. So people fall under that trap, it seems. A lot, a lot. And another thing that got me into working with genuine leather in as much as resin, I can make it a bit more affordable and sell more pieces. I have a friend who had a bug, who still has a bug, a clutch, a very tiny bug. She told me she got it from her mom. Her mom had it when she was in campus. And it still has it now. It's still in good condition. So whenever like the stitches come out, she just goes to a fondie, a good fondie. They redo the stitch work, but it's basically, it looks like it's new. That's the thing with leather. It doesn't age. If it's taken care of, that stuff can look good forever. Yeah. So I figured if you can get, and if you can invest in a bug, a very good bug that you can even let down to like your daughter or your son, you know, it can pass down a whole generation and carries so many memories and stories. So that is why I decided to work with genuine leather. Okay. Yeah. And seeing that, you know, so sometimes in Kenya right now, it's so hard to get employment and you're a young lady. Yeah. Are you employed at the same time or is this something that you've focused on is business right now? So right now it's business 100%. And it's putting food on the table for you. It's working fine. It's been a struggle. I won't, I won't lie about that. It's been a struggle, but things are looking up in as much as I feel like it will have grown a bit faster had the economy been better. But, you know, I, I'm still grateful for everything that I have at the moment. The business is doing fine. It gives me back money. So, you know, baby steps. That's what matters, baby steps. Yeah. And I'd like to know if you were to expand currently, what do you work with? I see bags. I see a belt. Are there any other pieces that you make? And if not, what other pieces would you like to venture into making? I do also travel bags. So every joy piece I'm wearing, I made. I love your earrings. Thank you. I hope you, I know you're seeing me looking at them from the corner. I absolutely adore earrings. Every piece I'm wearing is mine. I would love to get into making, I mean, shoes, shoes and leather jackets. I'm very passionate about jackets. So leather jackets will probably be a very good, like it's in their sights for me in the future. Right. Yeah. Okay. Leather jackets. I can't wait to see that. Me too. Yeah. Are you doing this business by yourself? Or do you have a partner? Is it a personal venture? It's a personal venture. You know, when you're starting out in as much as, you know, people will support you and be like, yeah, you go, you know, it's hard to get someone who'll give you equity when they have not seen it, like when they've not actually seen the proof, you know, like, usually you've made like 10 million in profits, then maybe I'll invest into you. So it's, it's personal. Yeah. I think I appreciate having that like a personal journey because I, I see the struggles. I push myself. I'm only accountable to me. If it fails, it's on me. I don't have to like, have to explain to someone else like, well, you see that money that you gave me. Why am I late today? Right. Yeah. So it will be great to have a partner. But at the moment, I'm not really looking because I feel like we work, we work fine. We just be good. You're good. Yeah. So even in the future, like if we get our partners, it will probably just be for accountability and maybe to expand more. But yes, right now I feel like we are fine. Yeah. Okay, we've talked about some things to do with where you draw inspiration from, how your business started, who you're working with, and as well as what pieces you'd like to do in the future. What are some of your short-term and long-term goals as we bring the interview to a close? So my short-term goals for this year is to grow the brand. So last year I was, what was the, what was the goal last year? Last year we were expanding or exposing the brand. So this year we want to grow the brand. So that means we get more pieces, get more exposed into the market, build more, like so right now I'm only doing bags and jewelry and belts. So if I can make, if I can get into doing shoes as well this year, that would be a very good thing. So for long term, as I told you, I would love to go into jacket. So basically probably selling all over the world and an international brand. Yes, an international brand and people appreciate in the culture that is Africa that is so beautiful and the people and yeah that is that is basically it. Those are my future plans. Yeah, I wish you well in those future plans. Thank you. And I hope that everything you have planned for v-curitette designs shall come to pass. Me too. Thank you. I think what you're doing is wonderful as a young lady and let's hope that our viewers can follow your path. Yeah, sure. And before we check out and sign out the show, kindly share your social media handles with our viewers just in case someone would like to reach out to you for whatever reason. Yeah, sure. So on Facebook and Instagram is v-curitette.ke, no sorry, underscore ke and on Twitter, v-curitette.ke. Okay. Yes. And I'm joy underscore mocha. Remember you can find this channel and hashtag us and hashtag why in the morning, hashtag Tuesday entrepreneurship, why 254 channel on Facebook and Twitter, why 254 underscore channel on Instagram. And thank you so much for tuning in. I wish you guys a rest of a beautiful, beautiful Tuesday. Do take care and be good to yourself.