Reference no: EM133839597

Question

Ayanda Mgazi and Gugu Makhathini are jewellery designers. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, they both worked for a local designer in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands. The business was primarily focused on designing jewellery pieces such as earrings, bracelets, and necklaces with African themes for the tourist market. During the hard lockdown period, when there were no tourists and the market for the business at which they worked came to a standstill, Ayanda and Gugu decided to start their own jewellery range which they called African Gems. Their range consisted of earrings, bracelets, and necklaces, but they decided to rather use semi-precious stones, and metals such as brass and pewter in their designs- hence making them more authentic and affordable to the local market. Creating visibility for a new product range was not easy, but Ayanda and Gugu managed to create some visibility for the jewellery range during the Covid-19 period. Post Covid-19 they only focused on their website, a Facebook page, and some Instagram posts to promote their jewellery. They realised that they must expand their marketing efforts if they want to increase their profits substantially. Since Ayanda and Gugu have never conducted any business research, they contacted you to assist them in researching ways of expanding their business.

Develop five research objectives for the African Gems research project. Your answer must sufficiently motivate how each objective correlates with the African Gems research project.