Startup Story
Jessica Lairs is the founder of D'Lairs Encantos E.I, an event planning and decoration company in Mozambique. She started her entrepreneurship journey in 2019 with a combination of passion and good leadership skills. Today she has six permanent employees and six employees for occasional events. Her team is composed of men and women aged from 21 to 57 years of age. She brings to her entrepreneurial journey 9 years of experience in the job market as a trader and manager and has always worked with women in different areas.
LoA learned more from Jessica Lairs about her journey to date and her vision for the business going forward.
What does your company do?
Event planning and decoration.
What inspired you to start your company?
Without much preparation and financial structure, I decided to take the first step on a journey that in a short time exceeded my expectations. The only existing tools were a combination of motivation, passion, creativity, and the desire to meet the needs of many women for the supply of specialist decoration services and organization of small and medium-sized events at an affordable cost and with satisfactory results.
“In my family I am the first woman to choose entrepreneurship as a single source of income.”
“I would like to see my company expand, with a much greater volume of business and with the capacity to satisfy customers from other areas.”
Why should anyone use your service or product?
We bet on the differential of the details of the final presentation of the services provided to our customers who are mostly women. In addition to being sweet and delicate, strong, and slender, we have always taken into account that women have a very high level of demand when they are faced with the selection and choice of a service provider. It is always necessary to listen carefully to all their wishes so that the delivery of the service provided is the best. We always do our best to ensure that this step is successfully completed so that the rest of the process runs smoothly.
Tell us a little about your team
In the beginning it was very difficult to find a functional team as I did not know the area in which I worked very well. Today there are six of us in the team - a 57-year-old driver, a lady responsible for all the laundry, a lady responsible for the flowers and balloons, two boys responsible for loading material and assembly, a boy responsible for acquiring material for the event if necessary, and me, who if necessary supports everyone. I do the conception of the event and also the contact with the customers.
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And do you come from an entrepreneurial background?
In my family I am the first woman to choose entrepreneurship as a single source of income. Like most woman I was also educated to be a good woman, study and have a good job to support myself. Since high school I started making jewelry and selling it in order to have an extra income. I graduated in financial management and when I was in college, I created my first clothing and accessories brand made in Capulana, which is the traditional cloth of Mozambique. Due to the demands of life, I worked in conventional companies but I never really adapted to the way of work. I've always liked art, creating beauty, organizing events. So, I decided to turn this passion into a business, combined with the need that existed in the market for services like this at an affordable price. This provided an opportunity to create my own event organization and decoration company.
“I intend to invest in teenage girls so that they can be self-sufficient with the work done by their hands, guiding them to be financially and emotionally independent.”
What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?
I would like to see my company expand, with a much greater volume of business and with the capacity to satisfy customers from other areas. With this growth I would like to see my current employees more satisfied with their roles and their salaries as a result. In the medium term, I intend to invest in teenage girls so that they can be self-sufficient with the work done by their hands, guiding them to be financially and emotionally independent in the areas that each one of them decides to embrace after going through good training with me.
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
The daily challenge of knowing that I am inspiring other women. This for me is unique and special. To be able to do what I like every day in a profitable way, to stop being an employee but to be an employer under 30 for me is a dream come true. I always hope to be able to motivate younger girls in my society that yes it is possible without knowing what to sell or lose values to achieve good results in life.
What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
You are a woman and you can conquer everything you want. It won't be easy but I assure you it's not impossible. And if it seems impossible, prove to the world that you can make your dream possible. Nowadays, we have a lot of information available, good, and bad. We have the power to decide what we want and how we want it, when it is not always in our control but we must always believe.
Contact or follow D'Lairs Encantos E.I
FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | EMAIL jessica.lairs2991@gmail.com
Why LoA loves it….
Jessica is one of those women entrepreneurs who genuinely understand that creating a business provides the opportunity to also create an impact in the local community or country. In Mozambique, Jessica is doing just that, creating much needed jobs and providing a service that people want and need. Her eye for detail means that her events always look and feel great to those who commission her services, and the end result is the creation of wonderful eventing memories. — Melanie Hawken, founder & ceo, Lionesses of Africa