Nelly Paulser is the co-founder/CEO of a graphic design business in Zimbabwe called Graphic House Zim.
A business into graphic design, printing, branding, and events business to harness the art of creativity and to increase a brand or community building message in the marketplace.
Nelly is passionate about women in business and is committed to making an impact on local community schools. Both in urban and rural setting through the use of design and print tools at her disposal.
Her aim to build a safer and more peaceful learning environment for all African Children in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Nelly is an award-winning entrepreneur and she’s:
- ImpactHer Ambassador for Zimbabwe
- An Alumni of the Academy of Women Entrepreneurs
- A Geneza School of Design Scholar
- A recipient of a Tony Elumelu Foundation grant
- One of the 503 African Women Entrepreneur Finalists selected by Women In Africa for training and mentorship
- A recipient of UPG Biashara program
- A recipient of sustainability and resilience for enterprises under the International Labour Organization.
Recently, we sat with Nelly Paulser who shared her inspiring entrepreneurial journey and the story behind her graphic design business. We’re happy to share this with you.
Tell Me More About Yourself and What Your Company Does.
I’m an entrepreneur. My name is Nelly Paulser and I’m the co-founder of Graphic House Zim. Graphic House Zim has built a brand name for offering quality graphic design, printing and branding services. We are more worried about building a brand and making it visible in the marketplace. That’s what we’ve grown the brand Graphic House for specifically.
What Inspired You to Start Graphic House Zim and Why Focus on Creative Design and Branding?
What inspired us was bringing something different to the marketplace, being able to offer something that someone else is offering, but in a different way. So that we could actually meet the needs that people had highlighted, the needs that we were also realizing that they’re not gay in the marketplace.
It was really inspired by just bringing something different, giving it to people without necessarily walking into the building, making it very convenient for our clients as well. So, It was all about offering quality within a specific time and also making sure that it was convenient for them.
What Challenges Have You Faced as a Woman Entrepreneur in Zimbabwe and How Did You Overcome Them?
As a woman entrepreneur, especially in my industry, I think the challenges that we faced mostly were about gender, gender inequality in the industry. So you find when you’re a woman, and you’re in the industry, and there are no other women in the industry, it’s difficult because the men don’t want to give you information.
It was a challenge for me specifically, because you find out when you want information, for instance, when we were moving from graphic design to more of the T-shirt printing, the corporate branding side. You find very few men are willing to give information to a woman who’s trying to come and take over their industry because that’s how they look at it. You wanna come and take over our industry.
It’s difficult because you’re on your own, but I think my biggest strength was I put my foot down. And I made it a point that even though others were not willing to help me, I’ll still help those that came to me. And when I do that, I’d actually build relationships with certain people in the industry. Those people were actually the people that helped me the most in this field.
I actually realized even in terms of the marketplace itself. The market would not respond positively to a woman offering graphic design, printing and branding services. It was unheard of. So for me, that reaction challenged me more than demotivated me. Maybe the first day I can say I was quite demotivated, but it challenged me after that to say, no, it doesn’t change who I am and what I’m trying to do.
I need to stand up and prove myself in this industry. And I think that’s what I did. I didn’t fear, I didn’t step back. I took it as a challenge and I went head on. And I really wanted to see who was going to stop me
How Did You Meet Your Co-founder and What Convinced You that the Person is the Right Individual to Work With?
For me, I think it was a different choice because my co-founder is actually my husband. And it’s so strange because for us, when we started this business, we had different strengths. He’s actually a graphic designer, but a self-taught graphic designer. And when he started, he just wanted to do the graphic design and the printing and everything.
But then when I then joined the business, I said, no, it’s more of branding because that was my strength. And I wanted us to brand and I wanted us to do stationery. I really was all out, all out on creativity. And so it was always a passion for both of us. He had that passion and I also had the passion. So it was really coming together and making magic together. It wasn’t difficult because even though we are married, we kind of drew up the lines to say who’s responsible for what. So it was not difficult to work together.
Funding is Often a Challenge in Africa. Can You Share Insight on How You Raised Capital for Graphic House Zim?
Our business is self-funded. We have to forgo a lot of things to actually be able to raise the money. Because all the money we had was from all the sales we were making. We had to learn to be disciplined and we had to forgo certain things at home as well as in the business, like certain luxuries. We said, we can’t do this because we’ve got an aim and we’ve got a vision that we’ve set for ourselves, a goal we need to achieve.
And so we needed to be on the same page. So that’s how we managed to raise our funds from just sales really. And at the same time, I then started participating in training programs. And with those training programs, you find that for those that came with funding, I’d be right there right to the end until I’m able to apply for funding. I was one of the fortunate women to actually be founded by the Tony Elumelu Foundation. And that for me was the first eye opener to say, wow, you can actually get funded.
It was amazing. It gave us hope that even as a woman, you can move in certain spheres, whether it’s training, networking, and actually bring something on the table, which was a plus for him as well. He appreciated that. So training platforms were a form of funding for us as well. So we got funding from there. And from that time, I’ve managed to get into different spheres, awards, and so forth. And those two, I have not used that money for anything else except for business.
Can You List Some of the Programs You Have Participated
I’ve participated in so many programs, like the Academy of Women Entrepreneurs under the US Embassy. I got an opportunity as well to apply for the USADF grant during that time. I have also participated in the UPG Biashara. That’s also another platform for young entrepreneurs, startups who are getting into the marketplace. That training specifically trains you on how to penetrate the market, as well as their opportunities for funding as well. So I participated in that as well.
Recently, I was in training under the short training, which is sustainability and resilience for enterprises, that’s under the International Labour Organization. So you find that on every platform where I have actually gone for training. It has been a platform for funding as well as a platform on how to make your business resilient, how to make your business sustainable, how to grow your business, and how to network. And those platforms have also been platforms where that have allowed me to network with other women have allowed me to network with other entrepreneurs, even from other African countries.
And I’ve also had an opportunity to train under the Women in Africa training program. That too was an amazing program because it allowed me to network with other African entrepreneurs, specifically females just like me, who have possibly met up with the same challenges that I’ve met. I also got to meet other women who are in male dominated industries and we got to speak and support each other in business and how to navigate such challenges that we meet in our businesses.
I have also gotten into the AWE program where I also received training. And I got mentorship as well, mentorship from people as far as the United States. And that helped me to get an international perspective on how to grow the business. Also, what quality you should look at bringing into your business as well, how to improve on quality, how to improve on your service.
And all those trainings has brought in something different. They’ve brought in either the aspect of growth in the business or the aspect of how to handle them. And even to an extent, I’ve met women who I’ve collaborated with in business. I’ve got Lumbim Lambo, I’ve collaborated with her and she was part of the Tony Elumelu Foundation training. That’s where I first met her. And after that I got into different programs. She also shares information on how to get into other different programs. And that has also really helped me to grow. She has been more of a mentor to me because she shares information with me that really has had an impact even on my own business.
Since You Launched Graphic House Zim, What Strategies Have You Used to Attract and Retain Your Customer?
I think the biggest strategy has been rigorous marketing. I’ll tell you, rigorous marketing, where you don’t let a single day go without the market knowing you’re there. So for me, unapologetic marketing, rigorous marketing has helped me to grow my clientele. It has brought in people. Some people have only known me from social media. They are based overseas, but they’ve reached out and I’ve managed to deliver the service to them.
Social media marketing is just a powerful tool that any business owner should definitely make sure that they invest in. It’s something that can grow your business. I also believe in up-skilling myself. The trainings, studies have had an impact on the growth of the business. Because as you upscale yourself, as you get new skills, as you get trained on different areas in your business, you begin to see the gaps in your business.
And as you see the gaps, you then are able to make changes in the business that allow growth in the business. Because sometimes when we get into business, it looks like we have everything under control, but that’s not necessarily what’s happening on the ground. So as you get to get training, you begin to see your flaws, you begin to see the gaps, and then you’re able to build on those and make sure that your business grows from there.
Apart From Social Media Marketing, Which Other Marketing Strategy Are You Using to Grow Your Business?
I would say word of mouth. There’s nothing as powerful as your word of mouth, because when people hear it directly from you, they get a bit of confidence. So actually going out there and speaking to different people, as well as online marketing, where you actually schedule a meeting and do it on video as well. So they get to see you, they get to know who they are dealing with, and they get to build that trust because they kind of know you when they see you.
And they’re able to gauge a lot of things just from listening to you. So word of mouth really works. Take advantage of social media. Do not be afraid to put yourself out there. Make sure you’ve got a business website that’s running and you are marketing your social media, Facebook, Instagram. LinkedIn is a powerful tool. Most people have sidelined LinkedIn, but it has become a very powerful marketing tool because most professionals are on that page.
If you go there and you market your business, so many investors are willing to reach out to you. So many clients are willing to reach out. We’ve had a lot of clients who say, you know, we just saw your post on this particular platform and we just thought we must find you out. So social media is a very powerful tool.
Don’t look down upon social media as well. Also, I would suggest that as you take up social media, take advantage of sponsoring your posts as well so that they reach a larger platform. They reach more clients. And if you don’t know how to do it, go for training, find someone who can train you on how to do it. So that at least you get to reach the clients that you’re looking for, the age group that you’re looking for, the type of clients you’re looking for.
They can find you if you also sponsor your post as well so that they can reach different platforms. I also realized that a lot of young entrepreneurs are afraid to register themselves on certain platforms like here in Zimbabwe, we’ve got the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe, which is a platform that allows you to bid for tenders as well. So as young entrepreneurs, upcoming entrepreneurs, that is also a platform where when one government entity deals with you, you’ll be so surprised by the next government entity reaching out to you and you, giving your information on how to work with them.
We got a portal where you’re able to see the different tenders and apply. Don’t look down upon yourself no matter how small, if you can deliver, you will deliver and they’ll be happy. So the aim is not really to worry about it. The aim is about you actually delivering the service. I think that’s the biggest challenge that you have. You have to deliver the service if you’re going to grow your business.
How Do You Balance the Creative and Business Side of Running Your Business? And What Strategies Help You Manage Your Time Effectively?
That’s a very good question. Basically, for me, I diarize everything. I make sure that my time is managed well. So from early morning when I wake up, I actually know my timetable to say, okay, the first thing I do is if I’m going into devotion, I go into devotion. When I’m done with devotion, I market my business early in the morning. I do that every day. It’s a routine.
So I’ve got times already scheduled to say at this particular time, this is what I do at this particular time. So even when it comes to marketing, if I need to go out to market, I have that already scheduled in my time. When it comes to me brainstorming, trying to be creative. I’ve got that time schedule already in my diary to say this is the time that allows you to be creative. This is the time when you can experiment on presenting new ideas.
So I have everything scheduled because as a creative in the industry, you want to lead. You have to always come up with new ideas, new ways of doing things. Besides me being a creative, I still have other things like I’m a wife, I’m a mother. So I have to make sure my time is well managed for me to be able to do the things that I do within a day. I also have things that I do outside of me being a mother, a wife and a creative, where I volunteer for certain things and those things all have to be within the time that I have. A day has 24 hours, make the most of that 24 hours.
How is Your Company, Graphic House Zim, Making an Impact Beyond Profit?
We basically have something that we do for communities, like churches, where we give back, especially for their events. We do their design, their printing and their branding for totally free, so we don’t make anything from it. But we do it specifically if the event is supposed to impact either entrepreneurs or is supposed to impact young people, because we’ve got the young people at heart. That’s one of the things that we do.
The other thing that we do is as founders of Graphic House Zim, we’ve actually founded Lerato Trust. Lerato Trust initially was a Graphic House baby, but then we’re now in the process of trying to separate the two. And Larroto Trust has basically three thematic areas that we focus on. The first one being anti-bullying awareness. Last December, we hosted an international event where we were actually engaging families. The topic was actually engaging families to prevent bullying in schools.
Our focus area is actually schools and education and that’s the area where our heart is and that’s the area where we want to impact the most with design, print, and branding. So Lerato Trust is actually a design print and branding non-profit organization that focuses on the educational sector and the young people at heart. Whether it’s young people within a church, whether it’s young people within a community, whether it’s young people within a school. We use design, print, and branding to bring out the issues that affect children the most in that environment, in order to build their confidence, in order to create quality education, in order to allow them to have an environment that’s conducive for academic excellence. So that’s another area that we focus on.
The Lerato Trust also focuses on the young entrepreneurs, the kid entrepreneurs. We actually have a combined program in August in Botswana in Hebron. Where we are actually going to be using our skills as design, print and branding to educate the kid entrepreneurs on how to become entrepreneurs. We help kid entrepreneurs in building their businesses. But we use that as part of design, print, and branding. So whether they’re actually reading something or we actually physically go and teach them a skill. We are trying to give them in part what we have in their lives. So that they too can ensure that they have a better start than we did.
Another leg that we also focus on is to bridge. We are looking at bridging the print industry on the educational sector. Basically we’re saying that a child that’s coming from high school should actually be interested in the IT area. This must do specifically with graphic design, printing and brown room. So any child that’s interested in that area. We take our time to give them a real life experience of the industry. So that they can find whether this is an industry they want to get into or not.
This allows them to make early career guidance decisions. It also allows them not to get into a field that they don’t have a passion for. If they get a live experience, they can then decide. Is this something I really wanna get into or there’s too much pressure, I can’t get into this. So it helps them to make that decision at an early age. So basically we sort of be the bridge that they need for that experience and that exposure before they get into the industry.
If they do get into the industry, at least what we give them is a basis for them to start from. A basis for them to grow from. They’re able to know what equipment to invest in in the future, and how to invest in that equipment. And also in terms of how to actually use the skill to produce the service.
We also look at things like integrity and how to build your integrity as an entrepreneur in this industry. So all those aspects we look at so that we can build better IT. Or can I say better printing businesses in the future. So that’s basically what Graphic House does. We have introduced something that will impact or that is already impacting our communities. And we’re hoping it can stretch out to other communities and other countries outside of Zimbabwe as well.
Click to read part two of this interview.
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