When his employers retired and shut up shop, curtain maker Richard Serere decided to go it alone. Starting his endeavour just as lockdown hit South Africa in March last year was not the best time to end up without an income. But he did it. Just under two years after landing his first client, demand for his services is on a constant upward curve. Serere’s curtaining business has been making waves across several social media chat groups.
Serere’s curtaining business has been making waves across several social media chat groups. Word of mouth has been themainstay of his marketing and, he said, it was an unintended consequence of working as hard as possible for his customers. Serere said: “I didn’t even know that people were taking pictures of my work and posting it on social media. It became a word-of-mouth machine for me and I just keep getting calls from people that have read about me or seen pictures of my work.”“I call on all the customers, do the measurements, work on design and ultimately head back to install the curtains,” said Serere.“I take time with my clients,” he said.
“I focus just on curtains. I want to be the best at what I do, and perfection comes with specialisation.”