Oteyo crafts magic from limestone

In 1992, Moses Oteyo discovered how lucrative crafting is and since then, he has never looked back. He has developed more and devised means on how to serve his customers best.

While others mold and craft using clay, Oteyo uses limestone rock and today he makes items with different meanings.

Meeting him

While I was walking around Centenary Park during the hands on exhibition, I saw many people crowded around Oteyo's stall and out of curiosity and decided to go and find out what was happening.

Only to find out that people were busy buying different items of their preference from him.

These included pictures of Virgin Mary, Jesus' portrait, symbols of twins, pregnant woman, wedded couple, rosaries, candle holder among others.

How he makes them

Oteyo who lives in Kenya, goes underground hunting for lime stone rock and when he gets it, he is sure his bread is tabled.

With a help of a panga and a saw knife, he crashes the rock. After, he starts cutting it into small pieces using a knife.

"Limestone rock is a bit soft and can be cut with a knife," explains Oteyo.

He starts molding items of different types according to his client's interests. After molding, he uses sand paper to make his products smooth before he puts them under the sun to dry.

After they have dried, they are ready to be sold to his clients.

Market

Oteyo says he has a big market and demand for his products both in Uganda and Kenya.

I normally participate in exhibitions and that's how I get clients. Those who come by also take my number and that way they introduce me to their friends and are good to go.

"Most of my clients make special orders for my products and I deliver," he adds.

My products are user friendly and it's not easy to break them which make them different from others.

He supplements limestone rock products with making furniture out of wood.

Challenges

Getting limestone rock is not easy coupled with transporting it. Sometimes clients can be disappointing when they ask him to reduce on the prices yet he feels he sales at a fair rate.

Oteyo sells his products between sh25000-120000.

Achievements

He has made friends through this and he has also learnt a lot from his competitors. That way he got to know his target audience and he knows how to serve them best.

His financial status has improved and he also takes care of his family.