Having been taught by his grandmother to weave hats and baskets from the tender age of seven right up to his teen years, it was only when he was doing his first degree in BSc in Chemical Technology at the National University of Lesotho that he met a reed weaver who turned to be his trainer and mentor.
From that time, he knew that his path would gravitate towards making a career in weaving hats, baskets and other related artifacts.
Fast-forward to today, Lesenyeho Rethabile, an emerging young leader hailing from Lesotho, now serves some of the biggest companies and multinational corporations in Maseru and has set his footprints and eyes on the African market.
Sharing his story, he said it was soon after graduation that he would formalise his work, setting precedence for what is now one of the fastest-growing School of Sustainable Arts and Culture in Maseru.
“Six months after my graduation in October 2013, I started my first weaving business Reed Basketry (Pty) Ltd based in Roma, Lesotho which ran until 2016.
I then started Mankie Arts and Crafts (Pty) Ltd based in Sebele, Gaborone, Botswana until 2018 when I started Arundo Industries (Pty) Ltd which is running even now, all these companies were basketry businesses focused mainly on production.
Lesenyeho says with the increase in the market demand, he had to scale up and increase the impact of his work, and out of this, the School of Sustainable Arts and Crafts(SSAC) was born.
“Hence, we started its establishment and training in January 2021 and registered in March 2024. SSAC is a non-credit-bearing school based in the outskirts of Maseru, at the Mahlabatheng Village, Lesotho”
He says cultural erosion was also one of the triggering factors which propelled him to launch the school.
“In the Kingdom of Lesotho, cultural erosion has led to the detachment of the youth from their rich culture as a result of lack of formal cultural education, especially basketry education. There is very low basketry production which is failing to meet the high demand for basketry artifacts. Equipped with technical skills in basketry and the gap in the market, SSAC, produces basketry artifacts using naturally available renewable resources and agricultural waste for sale to retail stores” stated Lesenyeho.
He added that the school currently supplies Woolworths Maseru with baskets and offers technical skills training in sustainable basketry at a fee to youths including those without any educational background.
Lesenyeho said to date, they had successfully offered training to a total of 211 students in partnership with Lesotho Agricultural College and College of Cooperative and Business Studies.
They had also received some seed funding from the United Nations Development Programme(UNDP)
“We have also managed to secure a sum of US$9000 as seed capital from UNDP Lesotho and the World Bank towards the construction of the school weaving studio,” Lesenyeho said.
“We have a team of seven young weavers working on production and five of those have been working to provide technical skills training to students. We have 32 students enrolled at Lesotho Agricultural College’s Diploma in Consumer Science and Diploma in Consumer Science Education. We have seven full-time students majoring in “technical skills in sustainable basketry” at our school for two years. We offer 5 short technical skills training programs in Sustainable Basketry.”
Accomplishments
- In April 2024, the School of Sustainable Arts and Crafts was part of the 30 delegates from 8 different countries across Africa working in Tourism businesses and Government Tourism Departments. The Seminar on Tourism Capacity Building for English-Speaking African Countries offered by Academy of Culture and Tourism Adiministration (CACTA) a research institute of Beijing International Studies University in Beijing (BISU) and China Academy of Art (CAA) in Hangzhou which was the host of intensive lectures and study tours and acted as the case study to find solutions for Tourism Capacity Building in Africa. The experience has given business relationships and enormous networking opportunities for both the school and the basketry products for China market.
- Lesenyeho’s School of Sustainable Arts and Crafts was selected among 244 organisations from 54 countries in Africa to participate in the YouthConnekt Africa 2024 Policy Hackathon at Norresken Foundation (Africa’s biggest tech and impact entrepreneurship hub) in Kigali Rwanda recently. They were part of the 30 youth-led organizations from 18 countries across Africa working on skilling and employability who presented their solutions to the hackathon guests.
- Lesenyeho’s school is also under the incubation of Snake Nation and Khanya Holdings Creative Incubator as the Enterprise Support Organisation under Lesotho Entrepreneurship Hub and Seed Financing Facility of the Competitiveness And Financial Inclusion (CAFI) project Cohort 2 funded by the Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho and the World Bank. The boot camp focused on training of the enterprises on the Business Management App that is being used for digital accounting, financial reporting, general management and administration of the enterprises.
Sharing his YALI Experience, Lesenyeho says the experience afforded him a conducive, networking and engaging environment to reshape, hone, and acquire in-depth knowledge of his business’s problem statement using Human Centred Design Thinking within a community of vibrant young African leaders across 13 countries.
Speaking on his future plans, Lesenyeho says he aims to train over 500 weavers, meet the current market demand of 6000 baskets per week, build the school campus and the factory shell just adjacent to the school, and export more of his artifacts to the African market.
- Fungayi Antony Sox is the founder and managing partner at TisuMazwi –a consulting, communications, media, and publishing entity based in Harare. He is also an Alumnus ofthe Yali Regional Leadership Centre for Southern Africa and writes in his individual capacity. For feedback, he can be reached on +263 776 030 949 or LinkedIn at Fungayi Antony Sox.