From IndependentOnline. Story by Mduduzi Dlamini.

It took Siphelele Dlamini two years to convert a Soweto shack into a shop she calls NtoZinhle Accessories, complete with dark green walls, mall-worthy off-white ceramic tiles and an electronic funds transfer (EFT) machine for sales.

The shop has an unmistakable upmarket air but Dlamini had to overcome bankers’ skepticism about her installing the sales equipment in a Soweto backroom.

“I managed to convince them through the strength of my bank account,” Dlamini said. “I had been banking my sales finances consistently. I have a clientele who use credit and debit cards.

“Besides, it’s just to show that whatever they can have in malls we can also have in Soweto.”

Dlamini’s handmade jewelry is created mostly by women in Mayimayi in inner-city east Joburg.

She used her social-media savvy, especially her effective use of Instagram, to grow the business.

Dlamini has more than 17,600 followers on Instagram, showing that social media are effective in marketing, with virtually no setting-up or operational costs.

“My marketing and promotion of NtoZinhle Accessories on Instagram actually tripled my sales,” Dlamini said.

Dlamini’s shop is on Phiri Street, two streets off Vilakazi Street, where Nelson Mandela and Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu once lived. The area is swarming with tourists.

Her business is not about selling exotic curios.”I never set out to sell to tourists, but they do come and are happy to find authentic African jewelry that is not airport material,” she said.

Dlamini keeps her prices low and said she beats the competition at malls.

“I’m able to compete with my prices because I don’t have the high overheads of running a boutique in a mall,” she said. “Shopping malls have high rents…and these are passed on to customers. Through my being in Orlando West I’m able to offer exclusivity and affordability.”

Find her products under the handle @NtoZinhle_Accessories

Read more at IndependentOnline.