10 Feb 2022

February 7 marked a historic day for Botswana as Minister of Finance and Development Planning Ms Peggy Serame made her maiden speech and also as the first woman to read the annual national budget speech.

As the whole country created conversations over the momentous occasion, and probably the contents of the budget speech as compared with her predecessors’, the leather bag on her right hand stood out. Not even the beautiful formation by women, clad in blue German print dresses, which ushered the minister into Parliament buildings could create enough distraction from the portable piece that bore Botswana’s fate for the next twelve months.

As Scottish actor Billy Connolly once said ‘A woman’s mind is as complex as the contents of her handbag, even when you get to the bottom of it, there is always something at the bottom to surprise you’, the surprise on the particular day was the locally made cognac bag.

Designed by Gaborone-based Afromuse Designs, the custom-made 13 inch vegetable tanned leather bag, with pigskin lining and inside pockets for safe keeping of small accessories has also found its way to Botswana’s history books. Even though the company was established in 2017, and has been servicing a wide clientele base, the request that came in on January 18 will always be the highlight of their existence.

“Getting that order from the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning was definitely a turning point for us. We are grateful for the opportunity to tell a story through our art and also for making it to the history books, said Afromuse Designs founder Olorato Gaorakwe in an interview.

Reminiscing the short, yet powerful journey of the design process, the leather designer said the turning point for her team was when they sat down to discuss the specifications of the bag with the ministry officials. The process entailed a thorough discussion on the actual size of the minister’s laptop containing the budget speech, provision for essential accessories such as a mobile phone and pens.

From the word go, their main objective was to make a good impression since this was a huge milestone for their company.

 Even though they had successfully serviced clients from the corporate sector, tourists and individual high income earners in the past, the minister’s order created an opportunity for a breakthrough and international exposure.

For a company that prides itself with good quality and handmade stitches, the Karakubis-born finance graduate led the team to custom-make a piece befitting a national budget moment, while at the same time making a fashion statement. 

The order came at an opportune time when they planned on diversifying for growth and putting the company on the world map. It therefore does not come as a surprise that for a product that usually takes four days to complete, this particular one was done in two days.

“It usually takes us four days to make such but the team worked extra hours and was finished in two days. We were doing this while paying particular attention to fine details as per customer specifications. The product was also accompanied by guidelines on how to take care of it to ensure a longer lifespan”

Interestingly, the main material used, vegetable tan leather, was sourced from local suppliers in Tsabong, while the pig skin and brass hardware were imported from South Africa and Japan/Taiwan respectively.

Even though she is optimistic that the local art industry has potential to be creative and tell their stories to the world, she said determination and passion were key to keeping businesses alive amidst challenges such as COVID-19. ENDS