What began as a natural eye for beautiful spaces has grown into a multimillion-rand business. Founded in 2022 by Siphosethu Sirayi, HBS Interiors has evolved from an interior design idea into a South African home improvement company offering renovations, custom furniture, carpentry, curtains and blinds, supported by its own curtain manufacturing facility.
In less than five years, Sirayi has built the business largely through social media and reinvested earnings, without external funding, according to her FOYA Global nominee profile.
Her entrepreneurial journey has also earned recognition, with HBS Interiors named Top Homeware Brand at the 2026 TOP 16 Youth-Owned Brands Awards. Sirayi is also a nominee in the Creative & Cultural Enterprise (Growth) category at the 2026 FOYA Global Honours.
But beyond the awards and business milestones lies a bigger ambition: building a company that creates employment, strengthens local manufacturing and continues to thrive long after its founder steps away from daily operations.
From Seeing Potential in Spaces to Starting HBS Interiors
Siphosethu Sirayi did not follow the traditional route into interior design.
Without formal training in the field, she relied on a natural ability to recognise the potential of spaces and imagine how they could be transformed.
“I didn’t study interior design, but I have always had an eye for beautiful spaces,” she explains.
Her business journey began organically. As she shared her work, people became interested in what she could create. One client led to another, and individual projects gradually developed into a business opportunity.
Sirayi also noticed that many homeowners wanted beautiful, functional spaces but struggled to know where to begin or whom to trust.
Some clients had inspiration photographs. Others simply had an idea of how they wanted their homes to feel.
HBS Interiors became a way to bridge that gap, helping homeowners turn their visions into completed spaces.
What began as an interest in design eventually became a company with a much broader offering.
Building a Brand Around Trust, Not Just Design
For Sirayi, one of the biggest lessons in building HBS Interiors was understanding what customers were actually buying.
It was not simply curtains, furniture or interior design services.
“People aren’t only buying curtains, furniture or interior design. They’re buying confidence.”
That realisation changed how she approached the brand.
Rather than focusing exclusively on polished photographs of completed projects, HBS Interiors began showing customers the work behind the finished spaces.
The company shared installations, project progress, behind-the-scenes activities and educational content.
This gave potential clients a better understanding of the process and the people responsible for delivering their projects.
Sirayi believes communication and transparency are just as important as design quality.
For a business working inside people’s homes, building trust is essential. Customers want to feel heard, understand what is happening and know that their expectations will be taken seriously.
That customer experience has become an important part of the HBS Interiors identity.
How Social Media Helped Build a Multimillion-Rand Business
Social media has played a defining role in the growth of HBS Interiors.
According to Sirayi, a significant proportion of the company’s clients discovered the brand through its online presence.
However, its approach was not built entirely around advertising finished interiors.
Instead, the business allowed audiences to follow its development.
Followers watched projects unfold, saw challenges being addressed and witnessed the company expand its operations.
“Social media became less of an advertising platform for us and more of a trust-building platform,” Sirayi says.
The strategy helped HBS Interiors build a community that followed its progress and recommended its services.
According to her FOYA Global profile, the business has grown into a multimillion-rand enterprise in less than five years, largely through social media and without external funding.
The company, founded in 2022, is listed as having a team of six.
For Sirayi, the experience demonstrates how consistently showing the work behind a business can help establish credibility and attract customers.
From Interior Design to Opening a Curtain Factory
One of the biggest turning points in the HBS Interiors journey was the establishment of its own curtain manufacturing facility.
For Sirayi, opening the factory represented the moment she began to see the company as something bigger than an individual entrepreneurial venture.
What had started as an idea was now an operation with employees, products being manufactured and customers being served.
The factory also reflected her approach to financing business growth.
Instead of relying on external funding, Sirayi largely reinvested earnings into expanding the company.
Her focus was on what the money generated by the business could build next.
That approach supported investment in equipment, employees, operational systems and manufacturing capacity.
The move into manufacturing has also created a foundation for the company’s future plans, particularly its ambition to expand its curtains and blinds division across South Africa.
Winning the 2026 TOP 16 Youth-Owned Brands Award
In September 2026, HBS Interiors achieved another milestone when it was named Top Homeware Brand at the TOP 16 Youth-Owned Brands Awards (YOBA).
For Sirayi, the recognition was an opportunity to reflect on the journey from an idea to an established business.
“Sometimes when you’re building, you’re so focused on the next problem or the next goal that you don’t stop to see how far you’ve come.”
The award acknowledged the progress of a company that has expanded its services, established manufacturing capabilities and built a growing customer community.
It also highlighted the role of customers and supporters who have followed the HBS Interiors journey.
Sirayi credits that community with helping the business develop through recommendations, engagement and continued support.
Siphosethu Sirayi Earns a FOYA Global Nomination
HBS Interiors’ growth has also brought recognition beyond the TOP 16 YOBAs.
Sirayi is among the South African nominees for the 2026 FOYA Global Honours, where she is nominated in the Creative & Cultural Enterprise (Growth) category.
Her nomination profile highlights how HBS Interiors has developed into a commercially successful creative business while creating employment and investing in local manufacturing.
The recognition places Sirayi among entrepreneurs being acknowledged for building and growing businesses in the creative and cultural economy.
At the time of publication, voting is open until 4 November 2026 at 23:59 East Africa Time.
Readers can find more information about her nomination on the official FOYA Global profile.
Learning to Build a Business That Doesn’t Depend on One Person
Despite the company’s growth, Sirayi acknowledges that entrepreneurship has come with challenges.
One of her biggest lessons has been learning to let go of the need to control every aspect of the business.
In the early stages, she was responsible for managing clients, sales, suppliers, finances and daily operations.
As the company expanded, that level of personal involvement became increasingly difficult to maintain.
Sirayi realised that building a sustainable business would require stronger systems, clearer processes and employees who could take responsibility for different parts of the operation.
Her goal is to create a company that can maintain its standards without depending on her involvement in every decision.
That shift has also changed how she defines success.
Rather than focusing only on revenue growth, Sirayi now pays closer attention to profitability, gross margins, expenses and cash flow.
For her, a successful company is not simply one that generates impressive sales. It must also be financially healthy and capable of supporting long-term growth.
Taking HBS Interiors Beyond Its Current Market
Looking ahead, Sirayi wants HBS Interiors to become a nationally recognised home and interiors brand within the next three to five years.
A major part of that vision involves expanding the curtains and blinds division.
She hopes to develop a network of trusted representatives and partners who can help the business serve customers in different parts of South Africa.
The company also intends to strengthen its manufacturing capabilities and explore additional products and services within the home improvement sector.
Potential partnerships include property developers, architects, hospitality groups, estate agents, retailers and other businesses connected to the property and homeware industries.
But the ambition goes beyond expanding the company’s customer base.
Sirayi wants HBS Interiors to create more employment opportunities, develop people and contribute to local manufacturing.
The Legacy Siphosethu Sirayi Wants to Build
For Sirayi, the meaning of success has evolved since she started HBS Interiors.
In the beginning, growth meant attracting more customers, increasing revenue and reaching new milestones.
Today, her focus is increasingly on freedom, impact and building something that can last.
She wants HBS Interiors to become an institution rather than a business that depends entirely on its founder.
That means investing in people, strengthening systems and creating a company capable of growing beyond her direct involvement.
When asked what advice she would give to young entrepreneurs, Sirayi offers a message shaped by her own experience:
“Start before you feel ready. You will never have all the answers in the beginning. Build, listen, learn, adjust and keep going.”
From starting without formal interior design training to building a multimillion-rand homeware business, opening a curtain factory and earning national and continental recognition, Sirayi’s journey reflects the possibilities of turning creativity into a sustainable enterprise.
For HBS Interiors, the story is no longer only about transforming homes.
It is about building a business, developing people and creating a legacy that can outlive its founder.
