Clothes the tool to fashion a business

24 May 2015 - 02:00 By Margaret Harris

Tracey Gilmore is the chief operating officer of The Clothing Bank, which helps women become entrepreneurs. She says that the sense of community her parents instilled in her has made her who she is today. What is The Clothing Bank?It helps unemployed women make money by building relationships with the major retailers that donate their excess stock to our cause. This stock is the tool for teaching unemployed women how to run small trading businesses. During their time at The Clothing Bank, the women are also supported through a two-year business, finance and life skills training programme.We teach by doing. We go out into the field and really do the work, while developing the necessary skills to help the women get their businesses off the ground.We believe and have proved that almost everyone can learn the skills needed to run a small business and make a profit - although this does not mean we can all become entrepreneurs.story_article_left1Since we began, we realised increasingly that the women need life coaching and business mentoring. So a lot of our evolution has been about seeing gaps and trying to plug them when they arise. We have a huge amount of support from our funding donors and retailer partners, such as Woolworths, Mr Price and the Edcon group.What do you do?My job is basically to oversee the day-to-day operations, to ensure that things run efficiently and that we are "working smart". My job is so varied: I am always juggling, problem-solving and making sure that we are following all procedures that allow for the smooth running of our organisation.I started by opening one centre in Cape Town, and now there are many branches of The Clothing Bank around the country. Essentially, we are a social entrepreneurship venture. We run our organisation using basic business principles, while tackling South Africa's socioeconomic problems.At every turn on this journey, I have had hundreds of opportunities to develop myself personally and professionally. It is so rewarding to see the tangible difference we are making. At the same time, we work in a learning environment, so we have to practise patience. We balance many issues: the constant demand for newness and variety versus productivity and an understanding that our working teams have not necessarily been exposed to the pressures a working environment demands and expects.What is your success rate in terms of women being able to support themselves by selling clothes?The retention rate is between 75% and 80% from when a woman joins us, and we would like it to be about 85%. From within the group retained, the success rate for women being able to support themselves is about 80%. On average, the income generated per woman, after expenses, is about R5000 a month, which can sustain her while she is on our programme.We see ourselves as more than just a clothing bank: we also provide our recruits with a range of skills and encourage them to pay off their debts and save.story_article_right2We have seen some savvy businesswomen emerge from The Clothing Bank, depending on where the demand lies in their communities: many continue to trade or go on to start catering businesses. Those who have been particularly disciplined with their finances invest in property and become landlords.What work did you do before you joined The Clothing Bank?I have always worked in small, family-run businesses. Before The Clothing Bank, I worked for a credit bureau, and before that I had a weaving business that produced hand-woven rugs.I also started a nonprofit organisation called Dress to Impress, which helped to find work-appropriate clothing for low-income job-seekers who were going to interviews. That's when I realised that there was a lot of clothing out there - and that we could be doing more with it.The Clothing Bank addresses the skills gap, and I am proud of the headway we have made. There are always challenges; the skills gap in South Africa is significant and very structural. We are working from the ground up to teach women the skills that will enable them to educate their children, who will then hopefully enter the job market with marketable skills and have opportunities their parents didn't.story_article_left3What did you want to be when you were a child?I still want to know who I am going to be when I am big. When I was younger I wanted to go into social work or nursing. I have a deep sense of community, and my parents always felt strongly about relationships, caring about others and taking people with you on the journey towards success. This made me who I am today.What other jobs would you like to do if given the opportunity?My job is not yet done at The Clothing Bank, but in the future I would see myself working in the international aid industry.What aspect of your job would you like someone else to do?That's easy: the IT. It's so complicated and changing all the time. I find it hard to keep up, especially now that we have expanded to five branches and have had to set up each of them.What do you love most about your job?It's like all seasons in one day - a lot of variety. I also enjoy engaging with people all the time. I get to learn so much about myself and about my country, on such a deep level. There is also a tremendous sense of community at The Clothing Bank. When South Africans work together, we achieve so much, and this is evident in our project...

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