“DOING what we love; that is our business plan,” said Ben and Lana Blom, who this week celebrate 20 years at Eagle Hout (their Bedford furniture factory, padstal and beehive of associated projects).
They measure success by the number of people they have trained and the sustainability of the jobs they have created in a platteland environment where skills are short and jobs are few.
In 1998 when Ben bought the woodworking business on impulse, they gave up farming to change his hobby into a business.
Four of their farm workers came along and Thobana Mhlatyana, Piriti Mncono, Dobosa Gcememe and Eric Brakufesi are still with them today.
Lana decided to quit her job as a psychology lecturer at the University of Fort Hare and joined the business.
However, like Ben, she has synchronised her experience and preferences with the opportunities for helping community members grow stronger psychologically and gain skills and confidence. Lana has a masters in education from Rhodes and a doctorate in psychology from Fort Hare.
During the early years of Eagle Hout, she did a research project on alleviating poverty and unemployment and she recruited two unemployed mothers as field assistants.
The two women, Diane van Heerden and Ivannita Sapto, are still with Eagle Hout 17 years later, and are now co-directors of the non-profit organisation Lana formed.
Preparing the next generation for employment is the other passion shared by the Bloms.
Three of the senior artisans in the furniture factory, Selwyn Koopman, Graeme Peters and Michael Mentoor, were trained on the job. They are now capable of producing the finest of handcrafted collector’s pieces out of solid wood.
Mentoor’s carved pulpit for a church in Somerset East attracted favourable attention in the media.
Their skills are passed down the line to students placed at Eagle Hout by Coega Development Corporation for a year of experiential learning.
Lana Blom describes business in a small town as a bit of a roller coaster ride. As a hedge against lean times, all staff in the padstal and nursery are multi-skilled so if a contingency arises staff can move into another area.
Staff members rotate between sales, nursery duties, cooking, front of house, waitering, light manufacturing and crafts.
As the Bloms, their children, Jaco and Benita, and their team look forward to the next 20 years for Eagle Hout, they said, “Our wish is to help co-create a stable united community with more opportunities for personal development and employment and hopefully some corporate funding.”