Saying no to importing sofa sets

Born Davis Kansenza in Kasale Village, Traditional Authority Kwataine in Ntcheu, he is among few youthful Malawians who are putting their academic skills into practice to earn big in town.

Today, Kansenza, born in 1984, is a force to reckon with in designing and making couch sets or sofa sets in the Capital City, Lilongwe and his products have spilled over all the regions across the country.

He said in an interview on Wednesday that his trademark is the work ‘high quality.’

Both his academic and educational backgrounds are equally impressive and points to a young man with vision.

After completing his secondary education at William Murray, Kansenza was selected to pursue a Bachelors Degree in Technical Education at the Malawi Polytechnic between 2005 and 2008.

That to him was the beginning of a journey to success.

He owns a business called Davina Furnishers whose idea was hatched in 2011. It specialises in designing contemporary sofa sets and has expanded to designing and producing modern beds and dining sets.

Kansenza believes time is over for Malawians to import sofa sets if they are to save the much-needed foreign exchange.

The name Davina is a contraction of Davis and Christina, his wife who is also a former classmate at the Malawi Polytechnic.

In fact, he revealed that he is called ‘Davis the sofa maker’ among his associates.

His products have a range of prices, but with a minimum of K385 000, negotiable he says.

“When I was at school, part of my daily business was to learn both woodwork and metal work skills and I was enthusiastic about wood techniques, particularly furniture,” adding that he is also specialising in sofa maintenance.

The former lecturer at the Lilongwe Technical College operates his workshop in a residential area of Falls in Lilongwe and has created jobs for at least 10 people.

But he has a unique feature about his business which is often rare in most business circles and that is he has employed his wife to handle his finances and his young brother who supervises the workshop.

Kansenza is a strong believer of local empowerment and says he uses raw materials such as hardwood and fabric sourced locally.

“Before each and every sofa set is made, I have to design it myself and this is all about technical education skills that I learnt at school, which is all about designing and thereafter realisation or

producing the design.”

When asked to tell Business News readers his successes, Kansenza, while chuckling, simply said: “My life has greatly changed over the years and the welfare of my family and relatives has also improved owing to the same business.”

He cites a high demand for his products in recent times as one of the challenges he has to deal with due to quality products he is making.

“I am convinced today that there is a need, of course by public demand, for me to open similar other shops in Blantyre and Mzuzu,” he said.

He also encouraged Malawians to support locally made products which he said could help save foreign exchange for other equally importance usage such as importing drugs and fuel.