Albert College’s All Pay Clothing

- Caleb Swanepoel -

It all started when I opened the third chapter in my Grade 8 Economics book. It was all about entrepreneurship and starting your own business. I decided to start a group business with some of my friends from Albert College. After much discussion and planning, we “formed” a close corporation, and decided to buy over-runs from a factory in Cape Town. We all worked during the Easter holidays to save start up funds for the business. The clothing we sell is high quality and is sold at very reasonable prices. Our slogan is: City Clothes at Country Prices.

Rebekah says that setting up and running the business has been a great experience for all of us, especially at our age. “We had to go through a lot of packing, sorting, counting and folding to get our stock ready for the first All Pay day.” Rebekah has learnt how to do bookkeeping in Excel and keeps track of our expenses and sales.

The day finally arrived and we loaded all the goods into the Kombi. Alexander and Rebekah Swanepoel and Christopher Mullins joined me to head down to All Pay on the 2nd of June.

There were lots of small stalls and we set up ours at the end of the row. Our tables were piled with scarves, jackets, bags and an assortment of golf shirts and t-shirts. The start was a bit slow and it was freezing cold, but the day eventually warmed up and the customers came. Ailsa Tudhope and Tracy Swanepoel, both teachers at the school, came along and were a great help.

The day was very successful but our team identified some problems. Next time we will set up another table to provide more space, make some bigger signs and be “prepared for everything!”

We want to expand our sales throughout the community, so the Lazy Lizard has said we can use them as an outlet. A lot of our stock is summer-wear, like golf shirts and t-shirts, so we will have a stall at the Saturday Market when it gets warmer. Thanks to everyone who supported us with our business at All Pay.