A Westgate entrepreneur had a surreal experience the first time she made a fancy dress.
Suraya Williams (48) made the dress without any formal training, using only the memories of watching her mother sew.
“Everything I grew up seeing my mom do, I basically put into making that dress. When I finished that dress, I felt like I had an out-of- body experience because I could not believe I made it,” she said.
Williams is the founder of Design 26, a seamstress training programme which she runs from her home. Last week, the project won the 2025 IWISA No 1 Community Champions Competition, taking home R50 000 and business support. The project beat nine others in a competition recognising women who address critical community challenges.
Williams discovered the competition on Instagram. From 200 Western Cape applicants, she survived multiple selection rounds including business plan submissions and video pitches. At the final presentation before five judges and 80 attendees, Williams felt the weight of representation.
“I suffer from stage-five anxiety, but when I go onto a stage, I’m fighting for the broader community of Mitchell’s Plain. I’m showing that there is actually a way out,” she said.
Her presentation opened with a slide featuring her late mother, herself in her starting bedroom, and a dress she’d made.
“I sat there and thought, I’ve put my everything into this, and it’s only up to God now.”
When the presenter praised the winner for “turning pain into a purpose” Williams suspected she had won but was afraid to hope.
“When she said ‘Design 26’, it didn’t register. In that split second, everybody looked at me and was clapping, and I turned to my husband in disbelief.”
Sewing legacy
Williams’ mother had always encouraged her to study design. She had resisted because she considered the clothing industry exploitative and low income. Her shift happened gradually after her mother died on her birthday from yellow jaundice at age 54.
“My late mommy worked for Rex Trueform, and in 1994 she was retrenched. She then started working from home, doing CMT work (cut, make and trim). She didn’t have education – a standard 5, Grade 7,” Williams said.
After working in corporate for 14 years, Williams inherited two sewing machines when her mother passed away. Three months later, her youngest brother also died, leaving her questioning her purpose while caring for a sick baby.
The turning point came when Williams’ cousin asked her to make a 21st dress.
“It was during that time that I actually found my purpose. I found out why she had to leave on my birthday.”
New purpose
Williams spoke to her husband about her vision and he agreed to support her, but she encountered the first hiccup when her employers would not accept her resignation.
I found my calling, I think …
“They offered me more money and I said, ‘okay, maybe more money is what I need’. I accepted the money but three months down the line I was back at their desk. I was like, ‘no, I found my calling, I think, and I’m going to do this”.
She then started a sewing enterprise from her bedroom. The next hiccup came when she had to be a secret agent entrepreneur. With a two-year-old son still breastfeeding, she devised an elaborate daily routine to work from home without him knowing she was there.
“I had to role play. I got dressed in my suit like I always used to go to work every day, so he thinks I’m going to work. I used to walk out by the front door, and then come in by the back door into my bedroom.”
Every day, while her mother-in-law cared for her son, Williams would secretly sew in her bedroom, walking on socks to avoid detection.
“I used to work on the machine, cutting and sewing. At tea time, she would distract him, take him outside to play, then I would come out and make myself coffee quickly. That’s how I ran my business for almost four years.”
However, Williams soon realised her natural talent was not enough to sustain a business because she was not making a profit. She enrolled for a small business management course at Stellenbosch University where she was encouraged to let go of the charitable portion of her business until she got on her feet. The move made her uncomfortable.
“I stopped giving away dresses but I still felt there was something more to this. I felt like this was a calling for me. So my husband said: “Why don’t you become a teacher, you like talking.”
Community impact
Williams gradually expanded the enterprise to include a training facility and its manufacturing counterpart, but she taught more than just sewing. The young women, Williams noticed, carried many traumas, so she built partnerships with organisations that could give them counselling and career consultation. Since 2018, more than a thousand women have been trained by Design 26.
“If I add up that 1 250 women and quantify it into monetary value, it’s more than R8 million that I’ve invested in my community through skills development.”
The business also impacted her own family. Both her husband and her son ended up ploughing their skills into Design 26 after they had separate crises at their jobs. Her husband uses his extensive retail experience while her son is the driver. Williams also employs her daughter and daughter-in-law as directors.
Furthermore, several of the young women who graduated from the programme now work at the Design 26 factory. Additionally, Williams said at least one of her former trainees has gone on to become a qualified designer. She recently sent Williams a note thanking her for giving her the start she needed.
“I’m just one small person, doing what I can to the best of my ability and to stick to my values and morals that I grew up with,” Williams said.
You must be logged in to post a comment.