Women urged to turn skills into income as small businesses battle competition

Women entrepreneurs in Bulawayo have been urged to turn their skills into viable sources of income, as small businesses grapple with intense competition and limited access to customers.

The call was made at the sixth edition of the SuccessTalkWithNoma project, held in Bulawayo on Friday under the theme “Becoming Successful”, which brought together women entrepreneurs, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and young people for entrepreneurial skills development and networking.

The initiative, founded by Nomalanga Ncube, seeks to create platforms where women and young entrepreneurs can showcase their businesses, connect with potential customers and explore opportunities for growth.

Ncube said many women possessed valuable skills but lacked platforms through which they could turn those skills into sustainable income.

“Our main goal is to empower women to start businesses and to believe that the skills they have can actually become a source of income. We don’t want women to only have skills without having a platform where they can use those skills to make money,” she said.

Ncube said the project deliberately brings together entrepreneurs from different sectors to help them market their products, build networks and access potential customers.

“That is why we are bringing different people together and creating opportunities for women to showcase what they do, meet potential customers and build their businesses,” she said.

The initiative has also sought to include women involved in community-based businesses, including food preparation and catering.

Ncube said inviting chefs to the latest event was part of efforts to give women in the sector greater visibility.

“We even invited chefs to come and promote their work because we want to make sure that women who are doing different businesses are also given an opportunity to be seen,” she said.

She said visibility was particularly important for small businesses that often rely on direct customer relationships and word-of-mouth marketing.

“When they come and showcase their products, they are not only promoting themselves but they are also creating an opportunity to get customers and to earn money from their work,” Ncube said.

For some women entrepreneurs, however, gaining customers is becoming increasingly difficult as businesses compete on price in a market where consumers are under pressure to spend less.

Bulawayo-based chef, Catherine Mupupuni, said competition in the food business had intensified, particularly with the proliferation of low-cost meal deals.

“The cooking business is now tough, especially with the dollar deals. When you go into town, you find many people are selling rice and chicken for US$1 so when you charge US$2, customers often decide not to buy,” said the local chef.

The chef said small food businesses were also under pressure to absorb rising input costs while trying to keep their prices competitive.

“It becomes difficult because as women who are running these businesses, we also have to consider the cost of ingredients and the work that goes into preparing the food,” Mupupuni said.

Mupupuni said platforms such as SuccessTalkWithNoma offered small businesses an opportunity to compete through visibility and customer relationships rather than price alone.

“At least with this platform, we are able to publicise our work and showcase it to people. People can see what we are doing and understand that this is a business that women are trying to build,” she said.

She said many small businesses could struggle to generate sales simply because potential customers were unaware of their products and services.

“For small businesses, being known is very important. You can have a good product, but if people do not know that you exist, it becomes difficult to make sales,” Mupupuni said.

“When we are given an opportunity to come out, meet people and showcase our work, it helps us to build relationships with customers and gives people confidence in what we are selling.”

Meanwhile, Ncube said the project would continue creating spaces where women entrepreneurs could learn from one another, market their products and build confidence as they navigate challenges in the business environment.

“We want to create that space where women can learn, network, market their products and encourage each other to keep going even when business becomes difficult,” she said.