From campus hustle to fashion empire: How Hawa created fashion powerhouse

DAR ES SALAAM: IN Dar es Salaam, where creativity moves as fast as the city’s traffic and trends change with every scroll on social media, one young woman has quietly built a fashion empire from the ground up without big money, without shortcuts and without anyone carrying her along the way.

Her name is Hawa Makweta, a designer, tailor, entrepreneur and the Founder and Director of Maktouch Clothing Brand, a fashion house that designs and tailors a wide range of outfits including casual wear, official attire, wedding outfits and many other occasional styles.

Hawa’s story is not simply about fashion but about turning a small opportunity into something meaningful. Most importantly, it is a story of a young Tanzanian woman who has created jobs, inspired others and proved that vision combined with discipline can change a person’s destiny. Unlike many people who discover their career path early, Hawa’s journey into fashion did not begin with a childhood plan to become a designer.

Her entry into the world of style was sparked by something very practical, an opportunity to make money as a student.

While pursuing the Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations and Advertising at the University of Dar es Salaam, Hawa started selling vitenge to her fellow students.

It was a common business idea among youth to buy fabric and resell it for profit. But very quickly, she realised there was an unmet need among her customers. Students who bought vitenge from her began asking an important question: “Who will design and sew these fabrics for us?” Hawa noticed that she wasn’t just selling material, she was sitting at the door of a growing fashion demand.

Her customers wanted finished outfits, unique designs and someone who could translate fabric into wearable confidence. Instead of ignoring their requests, she decided to do something bold, learn designing and tailoring so she could satisfy her customers fully.

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In that moment, Hawa did what many young people struggle to do, she listened to the market and adjusted her path.

Learning tailoring and fashion design is not a small task. It requires patience, skill, creativity and constant practice. But for Hawa, it wasn’t optional, it was necessary. She had already created a customer base, and now those customers were pushing her into a new level of business. Her learning process was driven by demand, which made her even more serious.

The more people asked her for designs, the more she committed herself to becoming better. With time, she gained the ability to design and sew different types of outfits, building her confidence stitch by stitch. Soon, Hawa was no longer just a fabric seller.

She was becoming a designer with a growing name, someone who could take a client’s idea, improve it creatively and deliver a final outfit with meaning and quality.

As her talent grew, Hawa faced the classic struggle of youth entrepreneurs, lack of capital. Since she needed start-up money to set up an office for designing and tailoring, she decided to seek employment. She worked for two years, but what made her story special was her discipline in saving 80 per cent of her salary specifically to raise capital for her business.

After two years of consistent saving, she built enough capital to establish herself properly. The office she dreamed about was no longer just an idea. It became the foundation of Maktouch Clothing Brand.

Today, Maktouch Clothing Brand, based in Dar es Salaam, is known for its flexibility and creativity in fashion. The brand does not limit itself to one niche.

It designs and tailors outfits for different categories of people and events. From casual outfits for everyday confidence, to official wear for professional elegance, from wedding designs to special occasion outfits, Hawa’s brand is built around meeting customer needs with style and uniqueness.

Her growth has also been powered by her ability to satisfy clients both locally and internationally. She has designed and sewn for people within and outside Tanzania, a sign that Maktouch is no longer just a small local business, it is becoming a global fashion identity. In the fashion industry, reputation is everything. And when celebrities trust a designer, it speaks louder than any advertisement.

Hawa has worked with various well-known personalities in Tanzania, including famous artists and public figures. Among the notable names she has designed for are Rajabu Ibrahim (Harmonize), Omary Nyembo (Ommy Dimpoz), Godfrey Rugarabamu (Mc Gara B), Haji Manara and Joel Lwaga.

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She also mentioned that she has designed for government leaders, although some preferred their names not to be mentioned. For a young designer, this is not small recognition.

Celebrities and leaders receive offers from many designers. The fact that they choose Maktouch means Hawa delivers more than clothing, she delivers excellence, confidence and professionalism. While her talent and discipline built the foundation, Hawa’s rapid growth was strongly supported by one powerful tool of the modern world, social media.

She explained that before she started promoting her work online, marketing was exhausting. She had to physically move from one office to another, visiting different places and trying to convince people to try her brand. It was slow, expensive and limited.

When Hawa began posting her designs on social media platforms, everything started changing. The growth became faster, easier and wider.

The real breakthrough happened when she started designing for famous people. Those celebrities tagged her on their pages and suddenly many people discovered her work through their timelines.

In the world of marketing, this is called trust transfer, when people trust the celebrity, they also trust the brand connected to them. Through tags, shares and visibility, Hawa’s doors opened wider than she ever imagined.

Today, she gets customers not only in Tanzania, but also from different countries including, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, United States of America (USA) and other parts of the world. These customers did not meet her in person. They saw her work online, loved it and reached out.

This shows the power of social media when combined with real quality. Online platforms can advertise you, but only quality can keep you relevant. As her brand grew, recognition followed. Hawa has received various awards that confirm her impact in the fashion and business world.

Some of her awards include Best Young CEO Awards, Fast Growing Men’s Fashion Brands and Luxury Men’s Wear Designer Awards (awarded by the Republic of Kenya). For Hawa, these awards represent years of hard work, sacrifice and consistency finally being seen. Hawa’s journey is filled with valuable lessons, and she does not keep them to herself.

She strongly believes that youth must learn to start small and grow step by step instead of waiting for perfect conditions. She encouraged young people to understand that business requires courage and readiness because success does not happen instantly.

Starting a business does not mean people will accept you immediately. Sometimes, you will work for months or years before people notice your effort. But if you stay consistent, improve daily and keep pushing your brand, eventually the market responds. She advised youth not to wait until they have huge capital before starting.

According to her, someone can start with a small amount, build trust, reinvest and expand with time. Another powerful element of Hawa’s story is her mindset toward employment. She openly stated that she no longer sees formal employment as her solution. To her, the investment she has made in fashion is enough ‘employment’ to sustain her growth economically.

She explained that she is not career-based in the sense of working under someone for a long time. She did not want to continue being employed because she felt that employment consumes too much time and limits the ability to think big. Currently, Hawa has employed more than 25 youths in her business.

These are young people involved in designing, sewing and supporting the production process. This makes Maktouch not only a brand, but a growing platform of opportunity.

Looking forward, she has a major vision to establish a large fashion design and tailoring factory in the future. In that factory, she plans to have between 500 and 1,000 machines, and employ even more young people.