23 Jul 2014

The Youth Development Fund (YDF) has assisted many youths to embark on productive and profitable business ventures.

One of the beneficiaries of the fund, Ms Gaone Ben, 31, who has ventured into the hair salon and beauty therapy, could attest to this.

In an interview with BOPA, Ms Ben said after completion of her Junior Certificate (JC) examination in 1999, she enrolled for a certificate in hair dressing in one of the local institutions and later started her own business in hair dressing.

“I started my business at Molepolole and although I had necessary skills in hairdressing, I struggled to make profit and lack of proper equipment proved to be a challenge too. I could not meet the demands of customers,” she said.

Ms Ben said later on she moved to Tutume to try her luck with the YDF and her application was approved in November last year.

“Credit should be given to YDF for funding my proposal to the tune of P100 000 and with the funds, I purchased essentials such as generators, chairs, hair dryers, hair relaxers and other necessities.” she said.

The same year in December, she started operating and she offered services such as plaiting, relaxing, hair treatment, haircuts, body massage, manicure and pedicure.

She also sold different hair pieces with her prices ranging from P20 to P150 depending on the style required.

Today, Ms Ben is her own boss and the YDF has helped her business resurrect and so far all is well and in a good month it earns her close to P5000.

With the profits, she is able to maintain her business and she is also able to pay school fees for her four-year-old son.

Ms Ben also revealed that she has opened a savings account to save some of her profits for rainy days. The business not only sustains her but also created employment for two young people.

Through endless advertising, she continues to gain more customers every day to boost the profit base and pay the business expense. She emphasized the importance of customer satisfaction and highlighted that she occasionally carries out customer service surveys to enquire on how she can best improve her services.

The hair and beauty woman also noted that market research should be given priority, noting that the reason why most businesses struggle to survive is primarily due to lack of market research.

She encouraged other youths to take government programmes seriously to uplift their lives and create employment for other youths.

Ms Ben urged people who have ventured into business and those with passion in starting one to consider going for training in one of the business courses so as to receive knowledge on how to run a business.

She encouraged youth entrepreneurs to work collectively and exchange ideas so as to encourage one another. ENDS