Ruptly
"An entrepreneur from Botswana living with severe rheumatoid arthritis is challenging perceptions of disability by building a skincare and crafts business from her wheelchair. Footage filmed in Kanye on Thursday shows Jone Zoe Kgasa knitting woollen caps and navigating her surroundings in a motorised wheelchair. She is also seen formulating and hand-making skincare products for her business, Zoe's Natural Body Shop, at home. "It took me two years to accept the condition,” she explained of her diagnosis, noting she first noticed a problem in 2015 when she began experiencing pain and swelling in her joints. “2016 December it was even much more worse. So I moved home in January 2017. Then I got diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis,” she explained. But Kgasa refused to let her disability break her. From her wheelchair, she has built a functioning skincare brand, formulating and producing handmade soaps, body creams, and scrubs. "At first, it started as a dream - just selling lip balms. Someone had beeswax on their farm, and they made lip balms out of it, which I sold," Kgasa said. Kgasa noted that she learned the trade through trial and error. “I went and studied to get where I am now. I can make soaps, some from scratch, as well as creams, lip balms, and all kinds of skincare products," she continued. "The challenges I face are that I can’t always be out there. But this very same business I’m running is also the one taking care of me at the moment. The money from it is what supports my health," she highlighted. Zoe's Natural Body Shop is now a registered business in Botswana under the Companies and Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA), 'offering handcrafted, natural skincare products focused on improving skin health.'"
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