Gudani's business speaks to people

If you want to succeed in life, innovation is a virtue that needs to be cultivated in order to establish one’s business. According to 29-year-old Gudani Sioga from Maniini in Thohoyandou, that’s a necessity when you are young.

Gudani is a highly respected local interior designer and bed maker, whose services are sought after by many in the district and beyond.

She had obtained her BA in Audio Visual Communications from the University of Johannesburg and worked for some years before she felt confident enough to start her own business.

“I worked for a company between 2014 and 2019. Then I decided to get fully into business. In 2020 I registered a new endeavour, which focuses mainly on furniture and household contents. Many of my friends and family members asked me to assist them with décor. It came to me when my apartment agent asked to take pictures of my place to put up inside the internet café after they saw how stunning and properly furnished my place was. That’s when Empire Lifestyle and Interiors was born.”

Gudani specialises in furnishing her clients’ houses with modern, stylish décor that is suitable to each client’s specific needs. “In my primary school years I was already a business entrepreneur, as I would sell potato chips, mayo, sweets and other snacks at my homestead,” she said.

The idea for starting up Empire Lifestyle and Interiors came after Gudani realised that there were not many people in the province who ventured into custom designed furniture. “I think that as a young woman I have managed to score my goal of initiating a business that speaks to my people,” she said. “It gives luxury to clients. They bring ideas and pictures of their favourite or most liked designs and we create it as they desire. Empire Lifestyle and Interiors is not just a furniture shop where you purchase décor. It gives you a platform to engage with us and we give you the best interior advice and service.”

She currently employs five people, whom she taught carpentry from scratch’ She hopes to employ more, particularly young people, in time. “I am proud to have started this business venture and it makes me happy to know that there at least five households who rely on this business for a livelihood. This is what our government calls job-creation.”

Date:14 February 2021

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.

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