Portia was busy in her hair salon plaiting two related children simultaneously with impeccable accuracy and skill. She indicated that although her customer base has remained consistent, she has cash flow challenges preventing her from rolling out marketing efforts as quickly as she would like to. Hair salons like Portia’s, also being seasonal businesses, see a decrease in sales in winter especially due to the low number of foot traffic along the streets: “My customers are the same even now”, she indicated.

Portia managed to consistently keep financial records, and is yet to purchase a card machine to increase convenience for her customers. Like many other Alex residents, she is also affected by the power and water cuts which have been occurring on a regular basis. She is finding is hard to make good use of Facebook due to lack of time and skills. ‘’I am not a Facebook person’’, she explains. However, she is making good use of WhatsApp to promote her business. She has managed to retain her old customers from within and outside Alex. She hopes that when the winter season is over the rapid increase in sales will allow her to implement all her recommendations.