08 Sep 2016

As preparations for Botswana’s upcoming golden jubilee independence celebration continues to gain momentum, this also brings along street vendors and other small businesses that seem set to benefit from the hype.

One opportunity that one cannot turn a blind eye on is the demand for the national flag colours merchandise such as t-shirts, hats, jackets, shelters and many more.

Some individuals have already tapped into the opportunity to design the merchandise so as to boost their business profit margins while some make orders to sell in remote areas. Normally, such merchandise was in demand when the senior national football teams, the Zebras have a game to host but today, the country is about to be decorated with the national colours on a daily basis.

Recently, BOPA caught up with a young woman aged 34 years old, Ms Kelebogile Mmongwa, who showed her appreciation to speak loud and clear about her business.

Ms Mmongwa explained that she gets her orders from Gaborone and they were transported by Botswana post and buses.

She said even though Chinese shops are given the opportunity also to sell the merchandise, she does not fear any competitor because she is selling quality and not quantity.

In addition Ms Mmongwa noted that other people do not like imported materials but they prefer to buy local materials.

She is selling lots of materials such as t-shirts, blankets, hats and caps as well as badges and confirmed that her business is doing well. Other street vendors such as Ms Agnes Bayani said they are facing a challenge of demand and supply of the materials .

Ms Bayani said her business has gone down as compared to previous months, however she said as a business lady she will continue to keep her spirit of selling imported clothes. She said they were very supportive to each other, now that many people are involved in selling the merchandise, other street vendor businesses are going to collapse. “Evidently BOT50 golden jubilee independence celebration is one of the events that Batswana are eagerly waiting for to show their manufacturing talents out of the flag colours as well as gaining extra money,” she noted. ENDS