Kingston, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/11/2014 -- The rate of youth unemployment is a topic discussed in almost every major news outlet globally. From high school students to university graduates the one concern voiced by almost every student is how can I earn money there are no jobs. According to World Economic Forum the global youth unemployment rate is 12.6 % in 2013 and the numbers keep increasing. They stated that over 600 million jobs need to be created over the next decade. Here is a story about a university student who's decided to not wait around for jobs to open up and create her own company.
Joy Matende is the Founder and CEO of Joy's Treasures, a wholesale luxury scarf & handkerchief company and a luxury consignment business. She started planning back in the summer of 2013 and has launched it in the summer of 2014 with help from a young entrepreneur program funded by the Canadian Government, the Summer Company at KEDCO.
Inspiration: Matende says she has been working in high end stores as a sales associate since she was 16. And that her passion for handcrafted luxury products and services was why she looked for a young entrepreneur scholarship to start her own business. “I've always loved luxury, art and fashion. When I realized that I could make money doing what I love I thought why not?” she said.
“I originally wanted only run a luxury consignment business but the target market around me was too small I realized I would either have to move or add another component to my business. I decided that I needed to create and sell something that wouldn't take up a lot of my time. I thought back to my many fashion projects the easiest one was scarves. I knew how to sew up the fabric but I didn't know what to put on the scarves. I studied colour patterns and techniques for about two weeks for long hours and tested them out on a few scarves and failed. I ended up getting so frustrated with the results I just started using various household items to create my own designs on the scarf when I thought I was finished all of my scarves accidentally fell into the remaining dye and the results were amazing. I couldn't believe how beautiful my mistake was. I tried to see if I could make another batch of similar scarves and it worked so it has become my special technique.”
What sets the business apart: To see if anyone else would think her scarves were as beautiful as she did she went to a few craft shows for research.
“Right away I got a positive response from literally everyone I showed them too. People loved the quality, design and the feel of the scarves.” she said. “Too many companies are buying mass quantities of products made from bad quality I take pride in the fact that my company makes our scarves from quality fabrics.”
In order to open up her clientele she decided to include a wide range of products for both men and women in her line.
“Its rare for companies to find genuinely aesthetically pleasing wholesale luxury scarves and handkerchiefs,” she pointed out. “I want to change that and become a dominant wholesale company.”
Looking ahead: The next steps for this young entrepreneur is to keep wholesaling all of her scarves to businesses and she is also looking into licensing the product to manufacturers. For her consignment business she's looking into opening an exclusive online store.
Advice: Matende says the dynamic combination to achieve success in the world of luxury is to produce unique quality products & to listen to what your clientele is saying about your product.
“Customers determine whether your business will be successful you need to hear what they want and change your product or service accordingly to accommodate their requests and needs,” she said. At the end of the day the customer is always right, right?”
Curious to see what she made check out her website:
http://www.jtwholesalestore.com
Media Contact:
Contact Person: Founder & Owner: Joy Matende
Company Name: Joys Treasures
Website- http://www.jtwholesalestore.com
Email: joystreasureshotmail.com