Jun 18, 2009 (Mmegi/The Reporter/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) -- Sheer talent laced with skill has seen Kazilevel, a clothing ensemble, growing from a nondescript organ to a fully-fledged clothing label, circulating throughout Botswana.

Launched in 2007, the label is growing and 23-year-old Ndzibi Kealeboga, who owns Kazilevel, confirmed this when he said that since the winter season set in, they have distributed 450 sweaters in Gaborone and a total of 3, 616 in towns and major villages in the country.

Kealeboga said that they supply the sneakers to boutiques in Serowe, Gaborone, Francistown, Palapye, Mahalapye, Kasane, Selebi-Phikwe and Maun at P350 apiece.

The entreprenuar said that they are overwhelmed by orders for the products and that at the moment, they are working under pressure to deliver on time. With a staff compliment of 20, Kealeboga said that the work has not been that easy, as they are forced to work round the clock to feed the increasing demand.

At their workshop, based in Francistown, Kealeboga who is a fine artist says that he is also a self-taught fashion designer. Who is responsible for making patterns of their products among other duties.

Explaining how they operate, Kealeboga said they buy the fabric, which they then design to their specifications and thereafter label them.

When they started they had three employees but two years later, due to the demand for the Kazilevel products, they have had to beef up the number of staff to 20.

Kealeboga has revealed that marketing is one of the tools they employ to showcase their products.

He said that they are now sponsoring popular artists like MC Maswe, Gilbert PP, a music promoter and My Star contestants together with their presenters and judges.

"To market your brand, you need to target crowd pullers so that they popularize the brand, he explained

He added: we have made a lot of profit with our sweaters which people have seen on Botswana Television (Btv) worn by some of the artists we sponsor."

Kealeboga added that their product has attracted a lot of interest in countries like Namibia and Malaysia where people saw the products and placed orders to the company.

"But we are still struggling to meet the demand locally," he explained.

Once we have satisfied local demand we will be in a better position to supply and satisfy the demand in southern Africa and the world at large," he said.

<<Mmegi/The Reporter. Distributed AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). -- 06/19/2009>>