Tshedza Masindi is a determined young entrepreneur

Read: 6078

A resident of Ngudza village, Tshedza Masindi, is doing amazing artwork, such as prints, illustrations, image refining and frames. This is how she has found a way of making a living.

Tshedza told Limpopo Mirror that she had discovered her passion for art after some personal setbacks in her life. The moment she started with her university programme in civil engineering she began to experience health challenges that forced her to come back home for recovery.

“I had to drop out and come home,” she said. “I was used to doing schoolwork all the time and living near the varsity. But then, here I was at home, doing nothing. Then I realised that I had to find a way to keep myself busy, and I discovered my talent for painting.”

She was overjoyed when a collection of her early creations was sold out within a short space of time. “I tried selling my first artworks and they all got sold in less than three days; that was when I saw that this was something I could earn a living from,” she said.

After some time, the paintings business started slowing down and she had to try other options. Her research led her to her to team up with a friend, Zwoluga Mutangwa, and she started selling kotas (bunny chows).

“But that venture was just a flop,” she said. “It felt like the walls were closing in on me, and little did I know that this was a sign for me to explore more business ventures.”

She thought she was not making it in the business world because of a lack of experience, so she started selling items just for experience, with no profit. “I remember the day that I stocked soft drinks and sold them just to learn how to interact with a lot of customers because I had hoped that, soon enough, I would be working with a lot of people. I had never felt so empowered in my whole life as on those days!”

When it was time to get back to school, she realised that the only thing that she did and felt great about was the art works. “I decided to submit a late application to study at the University of Johannesburg, where I enrolled for a programme on visual art because that was all I felt comfortable with,” she said. “The visual art course was full, and I then had to go for graphic design.”

With the knowledge she had gained from the graphic design course, she started producing more artworks and selling them. She even registered a company called Frenzy Sparkle. “My business started picking up from the print-outs,” she said. “I have now gained a lot of experience and more customers who are proud of my work.”

Her business focuses on oil and acrylic paintings, printouts on canvas, banners, and laptop stickers. She can be reached on 066 204 6828.

By: Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.