Money saved from selling bracelets helped 25-year-old Brian Hamubotu establish a growing bag-manufacturing business that employs and trains 14 young Zambians. Now he wants a larger workshop and modern machinery to extend those opportunities to thousands more.

Inside a cramped workshop at Lusaka City Market in Zambia’s capital, sewing machines run as young workers cut fabric, attach zips and assemble travel, toiletry and laptop bags.

At the centre of the activity is 25-year-old Brian Hamubotu, who wants to turn the small operation into a larger manufacturing business capable of creating opportunities for thousands of young Zambians.

Hamubotu launched Hillight Manufacturers Limited in 2025 with one worker. In just over a year, the team has grown to 14 people who manufacture products in the workshop, sell them in nearby shops and market the business in the field.

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The company makes customised bags for businesses, schools and individual customers and delivers orders across Zambia. Hamubotu says that, depending on the size and specifications of an order, the team can produce as many as 600 items a day.

But the business began with bracelets and a single piece of equipment.

Hamubotu tried several ventures before entering manufacturing. He bought fish in Mongu to sell at Kasumbalesa, but the business failed and he lost most of his money. He later travelled to Eswatini hoping to find new opportunities, but those plans also did not work out.

When he returned to Zambia, his mother’s house had burnt down and he had nowhere permanent to live. As his financial and housing difficulties mounted, Hamubotu reached a personal crisis. Support from counsellors at Lusaka’s University Teaching Hospital helped him begin rebuilding his life by making and selling bracelets.

A friend who sold printed bags gave him the idea for his next venture.

“I continued making bracelets and selling them to people until I had raised enough for the heat press,” Hamubotu said. “I started with one stand. When the bags were finished, I would go into the streets, sell them and return.”

The early equipment was basic. Hamubotu and his small team continued selling bags until the business could afford a manual sewing machine and employ more workers.

Growth was not straightforward. At one point, Hamubotu struggled to pay his three employees and they left. He began rebuilding and eventually expanded the team to its current size.

“Business is not easy. It demands passion, commitment and sacrifice,” he said.

Today, the company manufactures customised travel, toiletry and laptop bags. It uses some locally sourced cotton, but Hamubotu says most of its fabrics and accessories are imported from China.

Further expansion is restricted by the size of the City Market workshop, the cost of larger premises and reliance on old equipment.

“Where we are now is not a good space. We can hardly bring in big machinery, and other places are very expensive,” he said. “We are asking the government or well-wishers to help us with better machinery or a place where we can work.”

A larger facility and modern industrial sewing machines would allow the business to increase production, accept bigger orders and train more young people in cutting, tailoring, branding and machine operation.

For Hamubotu, that social purpose is as important as increasing output or profits.

“Looking at my background, I had nobody to fully support me,” he said. “I wanted to become a father figure, someone who would raise and support young people and help orphans and those in need.”

He describes the workshop as more than a place where people come to earn an income.

“It is not just a workplace. It is a place of love, harmony and unity,” he said. “We share ideas and move together as a family.”

Esther Banda, who joined the company in August 2025, said the workshop had allowed her to acquire practical skills despite having had no formal education.

“I find it useful to work here because I never went to school,” she said. “I have learned how to use the heat press and the cutter.”

She believes other young people could acquire similar skills if given the opportunity.

“It is easy for some of the young people outside there to do the same because of their interest and because they know what they want in life,” Banda said.

Her colleague John Banda said he had no work before Hamubotu taught him how to make bags.

“I didn’t have anything to do, but now I have something to do,” he said. “My boss taught me how to do this. This is my job now, and I am very grateful to have it.”

He is now involved in both making and selling the company’s products.

Hamubotu believes many young people who have missed out on education or employment could become productive workers if they received practical training and support.

“There are those who have not gone to school, but it is not their fault,” he said. “They would love to go to school, but they do not have sponsors.”

His work received greater public exposure when the company was selected to exhibit at the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprise Development pavilion during the 98th Zambia Agricultural and Commercial Show, which brought together about 1,400 exhibitors from more than 20 countries.

For six days, Hamubotu presented his Zambian-made bags to visitors and received recognition through the pavilion for his work in local manufacturing.

His ambition comes as Zambia seeks to increase domestic manufacturing and extract more value from its raw materials. The country’s Eighth National Development Plan for 2022–2026 identifies domestic production and value addition as national priorities.

A Zambia Development Agency investment report found that the country recorded US$19.07 billion in actualised investments between 2021 and June 2026. Manufacturing attracted US$7.33 billion, or 38.5% of the total which is the largest share among the sectors monitored. It generated 46,759 jobs, making it the second-largest employment contributor, according to a statement responding to the report by the Zambia Association of Manufacturers.

The association said manufacturing grew by 7.1% in 2025 and by 5.4% year on year during the first quarter of 2026, citing Zambia Statistics Agency data. The sector contributes nearly 10% of Zambia’s gross domestic product and accounted for 10.4% of government tax revenue in the first quarter of 2026, it said.

Yet one industry that could supply local manufacturers and generate rural employment is struggling. Zambia’s cotton industry is in decline despite its potential to create jobs and support value addition and climate goals, the Cotton Board of Zambia has warned.

Executive Director Derrick Sichilima told bird story agency that production had dropped sharply in recent years as fewer farmers grew cotton and several companies scaled back input loan programmes.

The downturn comes as the government pushes to reopen local textile mills and increase domestic processing.

Sichilima said cotton’s economic potential extends far beyond lint. Its value chain includes seed oil, animal feed, fabric, veneer and carbon credits.

“Cotton is a zero-waste crop. From the seed to the stalk and even the leaves, every part can be used,” he said.

Despite that versatility, production is falling because of low prices, insufficient transparency and farmers shifting to more profitable crops. With 99% of Zambian cotton exported, domestic prices follow volatile international markets. Zambia’s small share of global production leaves farmers with little influence over prices and exposes them to external shocks.

Sichilima recalled how high prices attracted many farmers in 2012, only for prices to fall by half the following season.

The government is now advancing a new Cotton Act intended to restore confidence in the industry. It proposes a price consultation forum through which farmers, companies and regulators could agree on prices more transparently.

Plans to reopen textile facilities could also create more local demand and reduce the industry’s dependence on exports. According to Sichilima, combining the proposed law with revived domestic processing could help stabilise prices and reposition cotton as a driver of rural employment and industrial growth.

The experience of Hamubotu’s company shows both the potential of small-scale manufacturing and the obstacles facing the entrepreneurs trying to expand it. Its immediate barriers are limited space, ageing machinery, expensive premises and insufficient access to finance.

Hamubotu believes overcoming those constraints would allow his business to manufacture more bags while opening a route into employment for young people who have had few educational or economic opportunities.

From selling bracelets to running a 14-person operation, he has demonstrated how a small amount of capital can be turned into skills, products and jobs. He now wants to transform the crowded City Market workshop into a manufacturing business capable of carrying thousands more young people with it.

“My desire is to have no fewer than 5,000 young people trained,” Hamubotu said. “That is the vision I have. "

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