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By Amanda Ellen Nicola Jojo
THE adaptation of Gandhi’s famed quote, ‘Be the change you want to see’ represents the most fundamental characteristic an entrepreneur should have. The famous quote resonates with Sharon James who is claiming her seat at the entrepreneurial table through her enterprise, Style Cabin Zw.
Born in Marondera, life was not rosy for Sharon because she was orphaned and subjected to abuse at a tender age. However, the resolute Sharon redefined her path and proved against all odds staked against her by establishing and running her prestigious furniture manufacturing firm.
“…We all know that an orphan is not everyone’s favorite child, life was tough for me, things happened, a lot of them including being raped at age of six, I never had anyone to pay schools fees for me, the only plans most people had for me was to get married.
“God had other plans, I started looking for a way to escape from my abusive family by moving from one house to another just to try and earn money for myself,” Sharon revealed to The Entrepreneurial Magazine.
For her, the road to entrepreneurship was jam-packed with unexpected diversions and barriers but that did not deter her to reach the end goal.
“I would make use of every information or any simple connection till I made it to Harare, I followed my music passion and I started singing with a gospel group and I was part of many famous gospel music brands, after two years, I realised that music is not something that could not sustain me,” Sharon said.
Because she was all alone in Harare, Sharon made ends meet through her laser-focused hustling skills.
“I started hustling, selling anything and that didn’t really work well, but people around me could see the passion and hunger for success, so life became better I would get calls from small companies asking her to market their business… I did that until 2017 when I fell pregnant and it dawned on me that my hustling was not going to sustain me and my baby,” she said.
Her fear of being an average person and poverty led to the birth of Style Cabin Zw, a home décor and furniture company that specialises in exclusive lounge suites, modern sleigh beds, headboard and they also offer interior designing services as well as manufacturing furniture for hotels.
“It was established in June 2018…it was really one step at a time, every dollar meant something to me so early 2018 I started buying her machines, employed two carpenters as full time, and kept on adding now I have 25 workers and we supply furniture across Zimbabwe,” Sharon said.
At a time when people are increasingly conscious of what they buy and use, Style Cabin Zw celebrates and promote individuality by manufacturing furniture that suit their customers’ style, dimensions, wall textures and colors.
Sharon has made it known that she does not really have a specific role model instead, she has a lot of people who inspire her to keep going whenever she is on the verge of giving up.
As a role model herself her advice to prospective female entrepreneur is: “We are not meant to sit still & look pretty, we have a whole journey in front of us to become whoever we have ever wished for, the ball is in our hands.”
Moreover, Sharon is a leader who lead the charge while carrying the share of the company’s weight she believes that leadership succeeds when it shows others how to extend and push for greatness.
“For me it’s always leading by example that way it becomes easy for everyone to follow, I also value character and I am always telling everyone around me to work on themselves every day,” she remarked.
In regard to the view that anyone can come up with a new entrepreneurial idea, building a successful business around it comes with challenges and Sharon had a fair share of those drawbacks.
“I faced a lot of challenges, because I got into a business I never had knowledge in, so it was learning from mistakes almost every time, it’s different to from going to driving school and have someone to guide you on every step of learning how to drive and just getting into a car and start driving it without any knowledge but because you have to get somewhere and that the only way to go there,” she added.
Sharon has received several accolades the latest being an award of outstanding conduit of excellence which was bestowed to her by Zimbabwe’s CEO Network. The award recognised her for being an intermediary, astute and shrewd professional.
Her vision is to become one of the top five furniture companies in Africa and curb unemployment.
