Lesotho: Unleashing the Potential of the Wool and Mohair Cottage Industry

WOOL and mohair cottage industries were established in the late 1800s. The major objective of their establishment was to conserve the original art and also to sustain the traditional skills of weaving and hand crafted articles for local, tourist and export markets. The cottages were also instituted to create job opportunities for rural Basotho women while carrying out common domestic and seasonal activities.

A number of bottlenecks and constraints affect the ability of cottage groups to realise their full potential. Local cottage industry is hampered by a number of factors, including: limited access to finance, lack of access to reliable and sustainable markets, inability to access quality raw materials and adopt latest technologies, low levels of entrepreneurial and managerial skills and the fact that it is still dominated by old women(mostly). Most weaving enterprises make products, mostly tapestries, which no longer meet market demands in terms of product design and or quality.

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