Making a living through hairdressing

Life has changed a lot since 33-year-old Tikambenji Kadondwe started her business in 2010.

Back then, she plaited hair from home in Chilobwe Township in Malawi’s commercial city of Blantyre with her older sister from whom she copied the skill and gradually people started getting used to their work and their clientele grew.

“This is what prompted us to open a hair salon where people would easily find us. So, we now have a salon at Chinyonga, where we not only braid and care for people’s hair but we also sell some beauty accessories such as lip sticks, hair food, hair beads, head bands and other things. It is a one-stop shop where people can find accessories once they are done doing their hair,” she says.

So far, Kadondwe says business is going well. She says many people visit their salon because they are good at their work .

“We put a lot of energy in our work to ensure that customers are satisfied so that they can come back for more services and also spread the word to their friends. We are also friendly withour customers so that when they come around, they should always feel welcome,” she says.

Among other challenges, she says some people who come for services and promise to pay later, never do.

Apart from that, she says the products used at the salon are rising in price almost on a daily basis.

“You find that an item was at a given price one time, and when you go back for more, the price has been adjusted upwards. And that affects us,” says Kadondwe.

Through the business she says they are able to buy food for their households, clothes and other things which would have been hard for them if it were not for the business.

She got the skill from her sister whom she would watch as she did people’s hair, and now the two of them are imparting the skill in their younger sister too.