Shanna Mazorodze
Moses Ziyambi
The furniture-making business, like any other business for that matter, has traditionally been a dominion of men who are viewed as innately endowed with carpentry skills as well as the entrepreneurial repertoire required to commercialise its products.
But if there is a woman who has shredded that belief and defied the odds to become a successful furniture entrepreneur, it is none other than Shanna Mazorodze, an able business woman and mother to many children.
A devout Christian and member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church (SDA), Mazorodze has established herself as a business woman of note with her Triple T Furnishers being known for its unique luxury home and hotel furniture of original designs that suit diffentiated tastes.
Mazorodze’s achievements at one time saw her establishing shops in many towns including Mutare, Harare, Kwekwe and Zvishavane before the business downsized significantly to consolidate operational costs and improve the quality of products and services.
She holds a Business Studies qualification which she however gives little acknowledgement in her journey to success, opting instead to give credit to her strong Christian faith and her God-fearing and supportive husband for her numerous larger than life breakthroughs.
“My story would not be complete without an emphasis on what God has done for me. Mine is a story centred on God’s grace for He has blessed my various exploits and my ambitions. I never leave the house for business matters without kneeling before my husband so that he prays for me and anoints me. I thank God for the man of God, the great high priest in my house. No woman would travel the journey I have travelled without the Lord’s favour,” said Mazorodze.
“I praise the Lord for He gave me a supportive husband who picked up on the vision and has been a pillar of support in all my exploits,” she said.
A connoisseur of the finest furniture designs, Mazorodze’s passion has taken her all over, with a stint at Glorious Couches in South Africa which was manufacturing lounge suites for Southern Africa helping her to hone her skills in furniture manufacturing.
“I have just ventured into furniture manufacturing so that I can be in a position to supply big business. I have also made it a point that I make the furniture from locally-sourced material so as to support local industry and create jobs.
“I aspire to be better than all the big established furniture businesses in the country so I am putting in place plans to open new shops and resuscitate business that was affected by the economic difficulties we are experiencing as a country,” Mazorodze said.
Her expertise has also seen her being called to do some work for giant furniture businesses like Greatermans, Bourbours, Meikles and Coloursell as well as universities.
Mazorodze grew up in Harare before migrating to Masvingo where she got married to Dr Farai Mazorodze, son to the late nationalist and great medical practitioner Dr Simon Mazorodze.
She is also an expert in interior designing, wedding planning and soft furnishing; having worked on many prominent weddings doing dazzling décor and having done interior decorations of many big houses.
Lately, she was amazed and grateful when she was selected to be part of the designing of the house that was used by President Robert Mugabe during the Zanu PF 16th Annual National People’s Conference in Masvingo as well as where both the two Vice Presidents of the country where staying.
“I am very good with, curtains, vases, mirrors, carpets and all those nitty-gritties that you want in your house to give it a smoothness touch. I love designing and making things beautiful,” said Mazorodze.
She is a woman with a great heart too, being a mother to many children most of whom she, together with her husband Dr Mazorodze, adopted through Masvingo General Hospital and the Department of Social Welfare.
While many successful people use their properties for nothing but social status, Mazorodze’s big homestead is a place where many people find some comfort, with her husband allowing her to use it to accommodate not only disadvantaged children, but to house pastors from different denominations during their conferences who also use the available swimming pool for baptism sessions free of charge.
“I have learnt that there is so much happiness in doing what is good and extending the privileges we enjoy in life to the less fortunate,” Mazorodze said.business
