Business established:

Glass Beads

Glass and molds

The idea is to provide Deaf adults with particular skills and a market for their product -with a view to create an ecologically sensible, aesthetically appealing, nationally and internationally promising business enterprise run by the Deaf community. Most Deaf adults in Namibia face unemployment and dependency due to the following reasons:
- They do not pass grade 10
- They subsequently do not have access to tertiary education
- They try entering the labour market as unqualified workers - unsuccessfully.

We want to teach them making glass beads from old bottles. They will learn to make their own tools, build their own ovens, form their moulds, select the glass, produce different types of beads. Subsequently they will either stay together as a production group or go back to their respective communities from where they will send their products to a central point.

The Business

What is your product/service?

No details can be provided at this stage. We need to run the skills training first and then get the assistance from you that you offer.

Target group as beneficiaries of the project are Deaf adults.
Target group as interested customers are tourists, local jewelers and goldsmiths, but also members of the rural communities where beads traditionally played a role.
Initially we plan to target the Namibian market, including tourists visiting the country. Locally produced glass beads are expected to be at least 50% cheaper than the imported
ones and will therefore attract the interest of above mentioned potential customers.

Explain how you will sell your product/service (marketing strategy) and how you will reach your customers (distribution strategy)?

To make beads from recycled glass is, as far as we know, a new technology for Namibia, which we will import from West Africa. We do not know of any local competitors at this stage.

At this early stage of the project, we do not have business partners. We recruited a trainer from Ghana to conduct the initial 6-week workshop, we have the support from BESO/VSO in the UK and their commitment to assist with a follow-up consultancy and we have the above mentioned Namibia-based marketing and sales person, who agreed to make her (world)wide network of contacts accessible to the project.

We will reach customers by being visible on street markets, in tourist shops and craft centres and by utilising the network of a marketing officer/sales person, who offered voluntary services.

Development

How does your business improve the local living standards (social and environmental)?

The project aims very specifically at a multiply disadvantaged group in a developing country, namely the Deaf. By giving them particular, unique skills (within Namibia), the project offers an excellent opportunity for their empowerment, increased self-esteem and independence.