Enjoy your garden, get a swing bed

When Tom Grass first travelled to Africa, in 2012 for work, he never imagined that a year later, he would be an entrepreneur.

Let alone a luxury furniture maker in East Africa. His mind, at the time, was fixed on the projects he ran in Rwanda for Nike Foundation.

“I never imagined I would be an entrepreneur dealing in high-end furniture,” he said when BDLife caught up with him recently.

Tom, a published fiction writer and creative director, found himself making luxury swing beds (hammocks) for upscale hotels in East Africa by chance.

“The idea of making them came when I was working last year for Girl Effect, an NGO which works in collaboration with Nike Foundation (Portland) and DfID. I was assigned to research on the life of girls in Rwanda and the role of cooperatives in improving their lives,” says Tom.

Skilled weavers

“In Rwanda. most of the women in co-operatives are very skilled basket weavers. It’s part of their tradition that they come together and weave traditional baskets while discussing various issues pertinent to their lives,” explains Tom.

It was during his interaction with these women that he realised that the women were not making enough money from weaving. They approached him to help them make reasonable living from their weaving skills.

“The foundation was not ready to answer the question at the time,” Tom recalls But later, during a visit to a friend’s hotel, a beach cabin in Zanzibar, he found an answer to the women’s request.

“I was lying on one of his ham mocks out in the garden enjoying the balmy breeze and found that I couldn’t get the idea of this luxurious living out of my mind for days. So I thought to myself ‘if the women could make baskets, then they could probably make these’, he says. Tom asked his host about the hammock and he directed him to Gala, the weaver.

He bought one piece which he took with him to Kigali. By chance, Josephine, his cleaner had a woven handbag with interlaces identical to that on the hammock. “I asked her who made it and she answered,’ My sister’,” says Tom.

Impressed, he arranged for a meeting with Josephine’s sister. “I spoke to her. A lot of her problems were similar to those suffered by the women in the co-operatives,” Tom explains.

He resolved to fly Josephine’s sister to Zanzibar to learn from Gala, the hammock weaver. It took her three days to complete her first hammock. She then went back to Kigali and trained four of her friends.

Cleaned

It was at this point that Good Life Ltd, a high-end furniture business was born. Tom is the director, although the women weavers are majority shareholders.

The hammocks are made from woven synthetic fish net twine and curved wood. The wood is used as a support. The bed can be placed anywhere in the garden and fits the taste of both hotels and individuals.

The curved wood is made of eucalyptus, pine wood and mahogany for strength. The hammock can support the weight of two adults.

“The yarn is triple woven making it more of a bed than a hammock. The net is spaced out using a wooden rod. Most people I show it to are scared of falling off, but it’s very strong,” he says.

The swing bed can be cleaned and maintained like any other outdoor furniture.

Market

Tom has so far sold several of them. The Serena hotel in Lake Kivu, Rwanda bought one. However, he says, Kenya is his most promising market.

His challenge presently is getting to understand how to conduct business in East Africa. “The problem is making sense of the import and export taxes,” he says.

Another concern is the cost of raw material for his furniture. Though, he has overcome this by choosing to import twine from India.

His worry then will be how to get the consignment to the weavers in Rwanda who are currently waiting to begin work on 40 orders made by clients in Kenya and Rwanda. Tom hopes to set up a production station in Mombasa to overcome trade barriers within the EAC.

Good Life ltd targets hotels and resorts with its luxurious day beds.

“The reason why I have hotels as my marketing strategy this is that we get a lot of people visiting these hotels, especially on weekends. Our hope is they will get to see the luxury day beds and order. And then I will get a secondary market for individuals,” he explains.

Tom is also scouting for investors to help commercialise the business fully and create a strong brand that can compete favourably with international brands.