Startup Story
Vanize da Natividade Teixeira is the founder of Muyana and Arts in Mozambique. The company uses recycled materials, transforming them into dolls, bags and other products for the home, through sewing skills and empowering women who want to embrace this artform. Vanize has two interns who work with her, and who are currently being trained in specific skills. She is still running the company herself because it's small, but her dream is to be big and international one day. Vanize has a degree in accounting from high school, and was the commercial director of the company Mocinter lda that was in the field of service provision, and also of the business, Marumadi Planeta Mozambique, a guesthouse.
LoA spoke to Vanize about her passion for recycling and creating new products from waste materials.
What does your company do?
We recycle secondhand jeans, transform kitchen utilities with Capulana, and recycle glass bottles. We do eco bags, dolls and make a range of creative things to use in the home, together with a range of children’s clothes with our African raw material. The name of our company means “woman” in our local languages so we do things for women in general and their children.
What inspired you to start your company?
I like to create things that re-use second-hand materials, giving them an opportunity to have another life, which was supposed to be garbage.
“What gives me the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur is the satisfaction of my customers when they receive the products we make - it gives me all I want. My goal is to give them my best.”
Why should anyone use your service or product?
Our business is taking care of the world. Our products are for people who understand that they want a better world for new generations.
Tell us a little about your team
For now, it is only me and a boy and girl that I am teaching skills to.
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And do you come from an entrepreneurial background?
I started selling eggs when I was 14 years old. When I was 16 I used to do my friends’ hair at college, to help my father buy school stationary for my sisters and myself. In 1993 I bought a truck to build my own house and started using it to transport and sell goods. Although my father was a railway worker, he was nothing like an entrepreneur. Later in 1997 a friend and I started the company Mocinter Lda that was a trading company where I was the Commercial Manager, that lasted until 2010. In 2011, my family decided to have a guesthouse where I was the Commercial Director.
Our products are for people who understand that they want a better world for new generations.
As entrepreneurs we must learn to never give up, even with the problems we have.
What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?
I would like to create an Arts Center where people can learn how to build a better world by taking care of the environment.
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
The satisfaction of my customers when they receive the products we make gives me all I want. My goal is to give them my best.
What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
As entrepreneurs we must learn to never give up, even with the problems we have.
Contact or follow Muyana and Arts
FACEBOOK | EMAIL ynav2000@yahoo.com
Why LoA loves it…
At Lionesses of Africa, we are passionate about showcasing women entrepreneurs who are building green businesses, and Vanize Da Natividade Teixeira is doing just that with her recycled fabric creative manufacturing business. She has found both a gap in the market and a need to address fabric waste, and her business is growing as she builds a customer base who appreciate her environmentally friendly business model. As Mozambique creates more waste, businesses like Vanize’s create solutions for turning that waste into useful products once more. — Melanie Hawken, founder & ceo, Lionesses of Africa