26 Jul 2015

Ms Rebecca Geche never looked back after retiring from Orapa Hospital in 1995.

The former nurse applied for the then Financial Assistance Programme (FAP) and in 1996, she kick-started REE Fashions.

Having started her business with only two small sewing machines in Letlhakane, she relocated to Francistown in 2008 and continued to do what she loved most.

Ms Geche’s business does exquisite vertical and venetian blinds, uniforms, hotel and hospital linen, curtains and bedding. She also added protective clothing in her products.

She rented an office at old Tati Land board premises at Aerodrome industrial. However, she decried shortage of space, stressing that in her endeavour to grow, she bought other big machines, which were not easy to operate in their current workshop.

However, she planned to expand her workshop to cater for high production, since protective clothing items were in high demand.

Furthermore, Ms Geche, who hired Mr Alli Thuma as her assistant, noted that with high demand for her products, she could hire other people hence assisting the government in employment creation.

She was, however, quick to point out that sewing needs perseverance, hard work and commitment, adding that if one did it right, it could put food on the table. Ms Geche stated that the future looked bright for her company, but decried the fierce competition from big foreign supply companies.

She also added that materials were expensive locally and they were forced to import from South Africa, when demand is high.

In addition, as an establishing company in Francistown, she stated that she used word of mouth, flyers, business cards and billboards to market her services.

She, however, noted that it was not easy to penetrate the market and government tenders were not easy to win.

Her company did bedding that could also be used in boarding schools, hospitals and other government sectors.  

She decried the Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) incubation programme, saying that her three-year stay there since 2011 was in vain as the programme did not reach her expectation.
Ms Geche stressed that she was evicted from the programme due to her rental arrears and they were also not given adequate marketing skills to face their competitors. Ends