11 May 2014

At a tender age of seven, she already had a business acumen that saw her selling some biscuits popularly known as  maquality and some sweets at her primary school.

The money Ms Martha Ramaditse made then was saved with her grandmother but she opened a post office savings account when she was doing standard four.

The savings accumulated overtime until her university days and today she owns a restaurant and a salon in Kasane. The down-to-earth woman said she even sold some of her clothes to save money as she never believed in dressing smart.

She said when she was a student at Masunga Senior Secondary School, she used to sell ice-pops during holidays to help her raise money for her toiletry, to finance her trips and transport fares.

During this period, she managed to open a tuck-shop and while at university, she ventured into selling shoes, morogo and fat cakes. In no time, she opened an account with Botswana Building Society, and in 2008 when travelling to Zambia for leisure, she realised how Kazungula did not have a restaurant.

The sight of the usually long queue of trucks and their drivers gave her an idea that she could establish a food outlet for them. She registered for a hawkers’ license and bought a small truck, cutlery, stoves and other materials needs from her savings.

Ms Ramaditse started operating from her rented apartment in Kazungula and started offering the truck drivers’ breakfast of fat cakes and soup then prepared lunch later on in the day. Within three months, the business was doing so well. 

As a result of the pressure of working alone, she hired a driver and an assistant to help her in the business because she was also catering for Chobe District Council whenever they had corporate events.

The Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) helped her register her business as Martha’s Kitchen, a name she had already branded on her car before she could be assisted. 

LEA assistance came in handy as she initially did not know the procedures of running a business.

Some of the challenges that she faced as a young entrepreneur were not being able to win big tenders for catering.

She needed an ideal working place in order to lend the big tenders, so she partnered with Pizza Plus in 2010 for convenience and also to expand her business to cater also for walk-in customers.

Ms Ramaditse said the idea worked but was costly and this put a financially strain on her since the owners of Pizza Plus relocated from Botswana and she had to pay both her employees and those of Pizza Plus, including rental and bill expenses.In the same year of 2010, she quit and had to close down because her finances were being drained by things beyond her control.

Her ambition and passion to run a business made her not to give up, so she bought a once Chinese owned restaurant complex for P150 000 to start afresh. She opened her business as Martha’s Kitchen with the help of LEA’s motivation to tackle her challenges.

The other problem that she faced included failure to secure funding with the Youth Development Fund as they believed her annual turn-over is did not make her qualify for the fund’s help.

This has hurt her as she believes she has a lot to cover and also has to keep up with the ever imbalanced market and unpredictable customers. Martha’s Kitchen now has nine employees and four vehicles for delivery. 

The business also has a branch in Nata.She also owns a salon in Kasane which employs seven people and she noted that business has its lows but one has to hold on and closing down should never be an option.

Ms Ramaditse gets her motivation from the community she serves for they help her build great determination and devotion. She said with her line of business, sleeping is rare as they are always thinking of solutions to improve the business . Ends