Ivy Ayoti, the founder of Just Divyne Crochet. Photo | courtesy.
While Covid-19 pandemic was forcing people to close businesses in 2020, Ivy Ayoti’s business, Just Divyne Crochet found a fertile ground to thrive.
Having to stay at home all time due to lock-down reminded Ayoti that she had a skill in crocheting and soon enough she began making crochet products.
“When covid came and forced us to stay at home, I remembered that I had a skill. I bought some yarns and made a sweater which I sold to my mother. Then I made other crochet products and sold them to my neighbors and with time, I began receiving more and more orders. That’s how my business began,” the founder of Just Divyne Crochet recalls.
Ayoti says that having crochet skill which she learnt when she was seven years old, coupled with her love for business, was the perfect combination for her business.
“Crocheting is a self-taught skill but nowadays I learn new things from the internet and also come up with new patterns. I really love business because I have done a lot of businesses apart from this one. I am passionate about it and I can never be bored with it. There is a day I crochet for three days without sleeping,” she affirms.
Registering The Business
After grinding for almost a year alone, the 24-year-old entrepreneurs met a business partner who encouraged her to take the business a notch higher. The two decided to register the business and newcomer took the role of marketing and social media management while Ayoti worked on designs and knitting.
She makes a vast number of products with crochet. In her own words she says, “I can make anything you can think of out of yarn. I make scarfs, marvines, sweaters, branded scarves for schools and much more.”
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Ayoti was doing all this while studying computer science at Kenya Methodist University, however, unknown to her was that her business partner would exit the business immediately after graduation in 2023. She had to go back to the drawing board and find someone else to work with.
At the moment she has someone who manages social media and another full time employee.
”I have someone who manages my social media accounts and one permanent employee who helps me with making products but when I have huge orders I outsource at least three people. For now I am also training another person who I will employ on a permanent basis,” Just Divyne boss says.
Marketing The Products
Social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram are her main marketing platforms, bringing her a good number of customers. However, she deploys other measures like giving samples to hook customers.
“Referrals from current customers make the most money for me, however, I also approach organizations and schools with samples and I often get huge orders. I just walk to their office with product samples or if I know someone I can tell them to connect me with them,” she shares.
Ayoti makes between Sh40,000 and Sh50,000 profit every month.
She says delivering high quality products and good pricing enables her to retain customers.
“Doing what they want and ensuring that they deliver quality products at a reasonable price. My pricing is calculated from the number of hours I spent making them, the type of crochet hook I am using and the number of yarns I am using and profit margin,” she says.
“Most of my customers are Kenyans but I get approached by people abroad like the USA, and Canada. They text me on Facebook messenger but I haven’t been able to export my products. Most of my clients are ladies.”
Dealing With Societal Headwinds
When she began doing crochet business while studying in university, her colleagues were cheering her up but after graduation, they began jeering, trying to convince her to give up on business and find a job.
“People were cheering me on as a hardworking lady but when I completed my studies my friends started advising me to get a job believing that I can’t crochet as a permanent thing. They are waiting for me to look for a job but I am not going to do that. I want to grow my business more and more,” she affirms.
Business Challenges
Capital is her biggest challenge as she needs more money to make samples which she gives for free because by doing it she can get people to buy. But getting money to do many samples isn’t easy.
She is planning to make products in bulk as opposed to making them on an order basis so that people can get the products instantly.
One of the biggest lessons that she’s learnt doing business is the power of building a team or having employees to work with.
Business Lessons
“As an entrepreneur you cannot do everything alone. For your business to grow you need people to work with. I train my staff to make good quality products and whenever I come up with new patterns I take time to teach them how to do it,” she shares.
For aspiring entrepreneurs, Ayoti advises that one has to start as soon as possible so that you can begin to learn, unlearn and understand how to run a business profitably in the long run.
