Business
Senior 4 · English
Business
Lesson 2 of 5
25 min
Let's begin
Behind every busy workshop there is a story of slow years, lucky breaks and at least one near-disaster. In this lesson you listen to a radio interview with the owner of a tailoring business that grew from one second-hand machine to a workshop with twelve workers. Then you learn to do what she had to do many times: describe a business idea in one minute, and explain how you will get customers to buy.
Important
Listening script: for a teacher and a student to read aloud
Two readers: the presenter and Mrs Kantengwa. About five minutes. The programme, the business and the people are imagined; the figures are illustrative.
Presenter: Welcome back to Business Hour. My guest today runs Kantengwa Tailors in Muhanga. Alice Kantengwa, welcome.
Mrs Kantengwa: Thank you. It's a pleasure.
Presenter: Take us back to the beginning.
Mrs Kantengwa: In 2015 I had one second-hand sewing machine, the kind you work with your feet, on the veranda of my parents' house. I mended school uniforms, mostly: torn pockets, broken zips, hems. I charged very little, and I worked from six in the morning until dark.
Presenter: What was the turning point?
Mrs Kantengwa: A head teacher. She brought me a uniform to mend, liked my work, and asked whether I could make new uniforms for her whole school. That was 2017. I said yes before I knew how! I borrowed money to buy two electric machines and trained two young women from my village. That first order nearly killed me, but we delivered it on time, and the next year two more schools came to us.
Presenter: And then the pandemic.
Mrs Kantengwa: Yes. In 2020 the school orders stopped completely. I had five workers and no work. I had to let two of them go, which was the hardest day of my working life. But then we noticed that everyone in town needed face masks. We switched in a week. Masks kept the business alive until the schools opened again.
Presenter: How did you find customers for the masks?
Mrs Kantengwa: The same way I find them now. Word of mouth comes first: a happy customer is the best advertisement. Then photos. Every new design goes into a catalogue on WhatsApp, and my daughter posts pictures online. And we have a sign now, a big one, which we didn't have for years.
Presenter: In 2022 you moved into a workshop in town. What's different?
Mrs Kantengwa: Everything. Customers can find us, we have space to cut cloth properly, and today there are twelve of us. We make school uniforms, choir robes and wedding outfits.
Presenter: Is there anything you would do differently?
Mrs Kantengwa: Records! For the first two years I kept nothing in writing. If I had kept proper records from the start, the bank would have lent me money much sooner. I learned that the hard way.
Presenter: Finally, your advice for young people listening who want to start a business?
Mrs Kantengwa: Start small, but start. Keep every receipt. And remember that a customer forgives a high price more easily than a late delivery. Unless you deliver on time, a school will not come back to you, however good your stitching is.
Presenter: Alice Kantengwa, thank you.
Put these events in the order you hear them: (a) the pandemic stops school orders; (b) a head teacher asks for uniforms for a whole school; (c) a move to a workshop in town; (d) mending uniforms on a veranda.
Definition
Step 1: plan the idea with the 4 Ps.
| P | Question to answer | Kantengwa Tailors |
|---|---|---|
| Product | What exactly do you sell, and what makes it different? | Uniforms, choir robes and wedding outfits, made to measure and delivered on time |
| Price | How much will you charge, and why? | A little above market stalls, because of the quality and the reliable delivery |
| Place | Where and how will customers buy? | A workshop in town; delivery to schools |
| Promotion | How will customers hear about it? | Word of mouth, a WhatsApp catalogue, photos online, a sign |
Step 2: pitch it in one minute.
| Part | Useful language |
|---|---|
| 1 The problem | Have you ever …? · Every week, … · The problem is that … |
| 2 Your solution | Our idea is … · We make / offer … · What makes us different is … |
| 3 Your customers | Our product is aimed at … · Our target market is … |
| 4 How you will sell it | We'll reach customers through … · We plan to charge … because … |
| 5 The ask | We're looking for … · With your support, we could … · Thank you. |
Step 3: the investors' panel. In groups, each pair pitches for one minute; the rest of the group are investors who ask two questions each: Who exactly will buy this? How much will it cost to make? What will you do if a competitor copies you? How will you use our money?
Worked example
A model one-minute pitch, with its parts labelled
[Problem] Every term, hundreds of students in our district lose study time because their school bags break. [Solution] Our idea is strong school bags made from recycled cement sacks and old jeans, stitched twice at the corners. What makes us different is that we repair our own bags free for a year. [Customers] Our product is aimed at secondary students and their parents. [Selling] We plan to charge 6,000 francs, less than most shop bags, because our materials are recycled. We'll reach customers through school parents' meetings and a WhatsApp catalogue. [Ask] We're looking for 150,000 francs to buy a second sewing machine. With your support, we could make forty bags a week. Thank you.
Business and figures imagined for practice.
Tip
One number, one picture. Investors remember a single striking number (forty bags a week) and a single image (a bag made from a cement sack). Build your pitch around one of each.
Warning
The secret to successfully pitching an idea, Mar Hershenson, TED, The Way We Work (about 5 minutes, 2023). Note her three steps and compare them with the five parts of a pitch in this lesson.
Practice
Key points
Sources and credits
Quick check
Put the events of Kantengwa Tailors in order.
Tap the cards in the right order.
