The kids are alright. Thabisa, a 14-year-old from the Eastern Cape, has found a way to do what she loves while getting some cash from it.
The Grade 8 student is a talented budding artist, an academically gifted student and now, an entrepreneur as well. She found a love for art at the age of 4 in preschool, where colouring was a part of classroom activities.
‘’It was at the peak of Covid-19 lockdown that the interest was fuelled again. I was 11 years old. That's when I bought my own art supplies like canvasses, paint brushes and many more,’’ she said.
Her hobby turned into a small business when she chose to make the cover of her own diary. Being impressed with it, she then decorated her friend's journal for only R5, and things took off from there.
Thabisa's buddy was so delighted with her coverage of the book that she decided she should turn it into a business. Her companion then assisted her with promotion by showing fellow pupils a template of the sort of job Thabisa was producing.
‘’My favourite piece I made was of a sunset, with a mountain in the background that I painted in 2021. It's my favourite piece because I was impressed with how it turned out,’’ she said.
Her older sister, Esihle, said she thinks the little artist realised that she could bring something to life in a painting, and it drove her to continue and affirmed to her that there was a talent there.
With her classmates, she started off charging R10 a cover but having seen that it could be a lucrative business, she has raised her price to R15 per cover.
She usually draws whatever comes to her, but now she has decided that her clients may choose anything they want for their covers.
‘’Thabisa is also a very academic learner, so the teachers are only privy to her work from a school perspective, in the Creative Arts subject. They have passed great comments on that, so I think they're also impressed,’’ said Esihle. ‘’She is a reserved, focused and dedicated young lady. She is also very respectful and kind. She makes being her sister a pleasure, always.’’
She added that it is a lucrative business and if Thabisa wishes, she could expand it and not limit it to just the school diaries, but to workbook covers, where parents pay her to design their children’s covers.
Esihle said the whole family is in awe of her talent because they don't have a past of anyone being a creative in the family. ‘’We're always so proud of her. We think she's amazing, and we're her biggest hype-men.’’
Thabisa dreams of being a dermatologist or software developer in the future.
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