Cape Town sisters Nina and Bianca Duarte get a boost for their small business.
The duo started a leather goods brand, Journey Leather, in 2016 after seeing a gap in the market, which had a few locally made handbags, wallets, duffel bags, laptop sleeves and more.
With limited resources, they used their parents’ back room to manufacture their goods whilst holding down full-time jobs. Bianca was a preschool teacher, while Nina worked as a social media marketer.
They then started exhibiting their goods at the artisan pop-up Kamers market before setting up an online store.
“After creating our collection, we applied to sell our products there to see if anyone would even look at our range. Personalisation of products was not common then, and we wanted to gauge how many people would want their items personalised, if at all,” says Nina.
The sisters, who then moved to an office space in Constantia, Cape Town, say manufacturing their goods is important because they can compete with big international brands.
“Manufacturing our goods here allows us to be in full control of the designs, materials and finishes. This is also very important to ensure that the talented people of our country have employment.”
Six years later, they’ve received support from the Hollard Big Ads for Small Business campaign, which boosts small, medium and micro-enterprises in the interest of creating better futures for these businesses and the communities they serve.
Nina says the campaign has helped open their business to people on a whole new scale.
“Billboards, bus stops, street poles and social media with our faces on them is something we had never even considered when we were selected. The team at Hollard captured the essence of our brand, and the exposure has had a huge impact on our sales and overall public trust.
“Seeing a brand on Instagram is great, but seeing it on a billboard makes it real and trustworthy, which has been the greatest impact we’ve felt.”
Their next goal is to open a physical store – something they want to pursue in 2023.