Appendix to Changemakers: Fabric of Change

zedlabel

ZIMBABWE

Appendix to Changemakers: Fabric of Change

14November 2015

What is zedlabel?

zedlabel is an online store for Zimbabwean fashion designers. We provide a cost-effective selling platform for local designers to market ready-to-wear clothing, accessories and beauty products that are Zimbabwean-designed, as well as invest in the Zimbabwean fashion industry through the provision of funding to local designers through our Fashion Finance program, and the facilitation of training and mentoring for local designers through our Fashion Fundi program. zedlabel has also set up a fashion co-workspace, the Fashion Factory, that provides low-cost workshop space for up to 4 designers in a shared environment.

How did this all come about?

zedlabel's founder, Mellisa Mazingi, is an accountant by profession who defected to fashion - in the best possible way. Through running a fashion events and PR company in Harare, providing marketing and business strategy services to local boutiques and designers, Mellisa identified that for Zimbabwe's talented local designers to grow and build self-sustaining ventures out of their talent, they needed to move from home-based, made-to-order projects into ready-to-wear, more accessible businesses. And zedlabel was born.

zedlabel was originally to be a simple online store - selling local fashion on behalf of local designers. However, Mellisa realised that there was a need for many development inputs into the local fashion industry also, and it was through this that the Fashion Finance program, Fashion Fundi program and Fashion Factory were developed.

How did you get started?

Mellisa Mazingi received a grant from the US Africa Development Foundation, through the Young African Leaders Initiative's Mandela Washington Fellowship, for $25,000 - together with $3,000 of her own savings, this was used over the course of a year from August 2014 to fund 5 local designers through 2 Fashion Finance programs in 2014 and 2015, to set up the Fashion Factory, to produce and sponsor training and mentoring workshops and courses and to get the business going and recruit a great team. Mellisa started working on zedlabel on 1 August 2014, and zedlabel began trading on 1 December 2014.

How's it all going then?

For the 5-month period from 1 August 2014 to 31 December 2014, zedlabel made a loss of $6,944.42, and had a current ratio of 41.7:1 at the end of this period.

For the first 3 quarters of 2015 from 1 January to 30 September 2015, zedlabel made a loss of $15,248.80, and had a current ratio of 8.6:1 at the end of this period.

Our turnover over the 13-month period from August 2014 to September 2015 is represented below:

*Turnover comprises commission on designer sales, interest on Fashion Finance facilities, rentals from the Fashion Factory and event income from training programs and fashion shows.

*Amounts are denoted in United States dollars.

Our revenue increases when we hold and participate in events, such as the graduation show for our Fashion Finance Kickstart Program that we held in August 2015 at the residence of the Dutch ambassador to Zimbabwe and our participation in the country's largest arts festival, the Harare International Festival of the Arts. Thus, fashion events will form an important part of our business strategy going forward - giving customers a physical interaction with our product to increase their confidence in our online offering.

We engage in creative collaborations and partnerships with other organisations - from our partnership deal with Zimbabwe Fashion Week that allowed us to showcase and promote at the event for no cost in exchange for a commitment to stock two other design brands showcased on zedlabel.com to our MalawiZimbabwe fashion exchange where eco-conscious Malawian fashion designer Vanessa Nsona travelled to Zimbabwe to co-host a workshop on 'Building a Sustainable Fashion Brand' and judge a fashion feature TV show, the zedlabel Fashion Challenge, where 3 local designers competed in creating wearable, stand-out accessories using recyclable materials.

zedlabel has created great brand equity in Zimbabwe - drawing on previous contacts in the fashion industry to work and collaborate with other local participants, focusing on achieving our designers' and partners' objectives to build our relationships and being consistently committed to quality, transparent business, prompt payments and promise delivery to grow relationships in the fashion industry as well as build a good reputation with the corporate sector in general, non-governmental organisations and embassies. This has positioned us to grow and prosper in the future.

What's next?

zedlabel has two priorities for the remainder of 2015 and 2016:

1. Set up The Fashion Centre: The Fashion Centre will be a multi-faceted fashion building that will incorporate a training centre, photography studio, showroom store, fabric shop and open office. The opening of The Fashion Centre will help us to achieve our development activities by creating a hub for the fashion industry in Zimbabwe to come together and LEARN, WORK, CREATE, SELL. The Fashion Centre will also increase and diversify our revenue streams through photo studio hire, open office subscriptions, fabric sales, additional training workshops and classroom hire.

2. Grow sales and increase revenue: Our objective is to take the business to break-even point by June 2016. This will involve a greater marketing push in our current local market, as well as expanding our reach into the African diaspora. This will also involve development of the revenue streams from The Fashion Centre to contribute to the bottom line, so this development is important to our bottom line.

In 2016, we plan to continue growing sales and increasing revenue, as well as raising funding to purchase a building for The Fashion Centre and make theventure more sustainable. zedlabel is a business dependent on volume - high website traffic and social media followings to translate into sales of a volume whose commission will make the business profitable. We are investing in our brand and business to equip zedlabel to achieve these goals.

zedlabel is riding the wave of e-commerce and the 'buy local' movement in Zimbabwe, and also has global appeal for our sustainable, artisan-focused business model. The future is fashionable, and zedlabel is in style.

The TEAM

Mellisa Mazingi is the founder and Managing Director of zedlabel, and is responsible for strategic planning and business development, as well as recruitment and team management and financial management.

Patience Chikaura is the Administrative Officer of zedlabel, and is responsible for ensuring the smooth running of the business - from maintaining financial and administrative records to implementing strategy.

LorrettaDhliwayo is the Sales and Marketing Officer of zedlabel, and is responsible for meeting the revenue targets of the company and growing the brand of zedlabel, as well as client liaisons and social media.

Thembiwe Mazingi is a non-executive director and legal practitioner, and serves as company secretary for the company.

zedlabel recruits interns to create work experience opportunities in local fashion, particularly in non-design related fields such as marketing, PR and management. Past interns include TawanaNyamupingidza - a Zimbabwean design graduate, BilqisDawodu - an exchange student from Dartmouth College, and Precious Maulana - an aspiring fashion entrepreneur from Zimbabwe.