During the week, if you drive around what was once Zimbabwe’s industrial hub, Bulawayo, the factories are dead; on Sundays, they come alive with the sounds of worship.
According to reports, in the last 10 years, around 100 factories have shut their doors and laid off staff. They are being rented by churches as it appears religion is the only boom in town.
“Most of the factories here don’t operate anymore. You will find that the only thing the company has left here is the building itself and they need to make a bit of money. Our factory, for example, was vacant for a very long time. It only made sense to rent it out to someone who needed it and there is nothing we can do about it until the industries can be revived,” says the former buildings manager who asked not to be named.
The list is long.
The charismatic prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa’s United Family International (UFI) Ministries rents the city’s biggest textile factory, Textile Mills, along Josiah Chinamano Road in Belmont. Not too far away, Revelation Church of God rents a large warehouse in Kelvin, formerly the home of wholesaler Goveya Enterprises; Higher Grace International Ministries occupies a dilapidated building which used to be a motor repair shop. In the same building is one of the few survivors, a small-scale detergents manufacturer who displays his products on a slab outside and Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG) rents a building which was once an exhaust repair shop in the heart of Bulawayo.
There are plenty of other places that have closed – Rusglen Fashions, True Value, Belmor Fashions, Lancaster, Harren Manufacturing, Cinderella, and Label Fashion.
Amid economic carnage is a company trying to pull itself up by its bootstraps. The company must be one of the few in Zimbabwe that has never retrenched people. It employs 15 people, making handmade boots for export between $299 and $999.
“We need a minimum of nine working days to make a pair of boots so each day the 30 pairs being cut are not the same 30 pairs being boxed,” says Courteney Boot Company co-founder Gale Rice.
When Rice helped form the company in 1989, selling in Zimbabwe was easy. Half their production was sold locally.
“We had a strong commercial farming sector which hosted a strong hunting community, a vibrant tourist industry and a varied local economy. Every single town had at least one stockist, whether it was the farming co-op, seed company, hardware shop or even the gardening center. Courteney was available throughout the country. Nowadays 99 percent of our production leaves the country,” says Rice.
Making boots by hand is a slow, painstaking but worthy process that makes them last longer.
“Our customers send their boots back to us from all over the world for repairs, re-soling, full refurbish. Mailing can be expensive but we pride ourselves on returning a pair of boots that look as good as new and will last for many more years. We’re old fashioned and happy to be so,” she says.
What’s the secret to keeping this small company alive when so many others are dying?
“I don’t know,” she laughs. “We’re a team that believes that no individual or enterprise escapes the bad stuff. Nobody gets off scot-free – we all have to deal with death, tragedy, business or financial reversals and so on during our journey on earth. Just crack on,” she says.
It’s not easy, but there is a reason she hangs on – family.
Her late husband, John Rice, won a worldwide design competition, at the age of 17, with his favorite design for a stitch-down shoe. Shortly after they met, in 1989, John had a dream, Gale was sold on the idea and they built a company before they were even married.
“It was a terrific adventure. Everything from buying the machinery to developing the marketing was exciting and terrifying. John once pulled out all our Christmas cards to each other and was going through them. He said to me, ‘Do you know that in every single card you’ve described the past year as difficult?’” recalls Gale.
By that time, John had already been in the footwear industry for 37 years as a designer and manufacturer. The business, in the early days, relied on the hunting and safari industries.
“John always said that men admire what other men have, whether it’s a knife or a watch or a pair of boots,” says Gale.
They slowly established a strong American following; then after a few years, they got a strong British link. Westley Richards, a 204-year-old leading gun and rifle manufacturer based in Birmingham, England, asked if they could stock and distribute for Courteney.
John and Gale were delighted.
“Courteney was the biggest part of our marriage and working together was deeply fulfilling. We never, ever ran out of conversation – we’d sit in the bath nattering away and we’d have sore throats after a long journey in the car. I look back now and see even more clearly how incredibly lucky I was to have such an adventurous husband, and how fortunate I am now to have my life still filled with Courteney and all its joys and challenges.”
Despite the success, it was difficult to keep the doors open as Zimbabwe’s economy struggled. It was difficult to export from Zimbabwe.
“[Goods] were backed up at Harare airport waiting for a plane, but almost no carriers were flying in at that time. John and I went to South Africa to the shoemaking industry centered in Durban and Pinetown and visited several stitch-down manufacturers to find a temporary home for our production.”
When things settled a bit, they came back to Bulawayo. Also known as the City of Kings, it is no longer fit for kings.
“The profit margins have gone down significantly because of the high costs of production – electricity, labor, raws – and just the business of doing business in Zimbabwe. There is little consistency in pricing in the country at present,” she says.
Rice says because they manufacture only in legally obtained game-skin leathers, Courteney may be directly affected if Zimbabwe loses its hunting industry. They are also in danger of losing the company altogether under the intense scrutiny of foreign countries, spurred on by the anti-hunting organizations.
“The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority needs to be squeaky clean and in full control of our wildlife and hunting quotas. It’s worth noting that it’s the hunting industry that funds anti-poaching operations in our conservancies. About a decade ago, the Authority had its budget rescinded leaving them to source their own income. One tiny result of this is that parks demand two percent of the value of every invoice to provide a CITES permit for every export. It’s an unnecessary duty to impose on our customers, and very annoying,” she says.
Rice is in Bulawayo to stay and she is not about to turn the factory over to Sunday worship.