Grandeur Interiors is an interior design studio offering renovations and spatial planning to residential, commercial, corporate and hospitality clients (hotels, lodges), both locally and internationally. It consists of a consulting arm and a manufacturing arm called House Grandeur, which designs and manufactures furniture. Sustainability runs through both businesses: chairs and wood products use reclaimed timber, and leathers come from suppliers with sustainable practices.

Renée has two main priorities. First, she wants to create jobs by training and employing local women from her own community to produce the scatter cushions. Second, she wants to shift from small residential jobs toward more B2B contracts. Monthly orders, especially from overseas clients, provide a steady cash flow, and Renée would like to grow that type of income.

Renée runs the business alone, so time management is a constant constraint. Finding qualified artisans is also struggle: Many of the people she relied on are foreigners who feel increasingly unwelcome in South Africa, with some deciding to leave altogether. She also lacks internal bookkeeping systems. Renée would also like to adopt software such as Sage before handing her records to her accountant, but hasn’t found the time.