30 Nov 2016

 Mr Thabo Mbulayi of Moroka village in the North East District is determined to thrive and reach high with his coffin and casket manufacturing business.

Mr Mbulayi, 26, of Sedilame Funeral and Manufacturing told BOPA in an interview that despite some hiccups in his two-year-old business, he intended to keep on going to make his dream come true.

He said his business took off in 2014 with thanks to the retirement package from African Copper Mine where he had worked for ages.

Instead of busking in the sun doing nothing, he said he decided to use his carpentry skills he acquired at the Lilongwe Brigade in Zambia by doing something he could earn a living from

In 2015, the young man was funded through the Youth Development Fund programme (YDF) to the tune of P92 000 out of which he used P57 533 to buy all the necessary machinery.

He said working for different funeral parlours gave him the necessary experience to run his own business since he realised that there was a shortage of his kind of business in the northern region.

Mr Mbulayi said he worked for Tshiamo Funeral Parlour in Tonota in 2009, then Thusanyo Funeral Parlour in Francistown in 2010 before joining African Copper Mine in 2014 as a mechanic.

“As soon as I heard that we would be retrenched due to low production I decided to take an early retirement package to do something I could be remembered for as well as earning a living,” he said.

His business supplies Jabezy Funeral Parlour and Thusanyo Funeral Parlour in Francistown with coffins and intends to spread his wings further to Kachikau in Chobe or Francistown through both manufacturing and funeral parlour services and packages to boost his income.
Some of the packages will include, standard dome package, presidential package, diamond package, angel’s package, flat lead two tier package and others.

He also said that he was currently facing a challenge with his suppliers mainly because he sources materials from Polokwane in South Africa, where there often delays caused by heavy rains.

Apart from manufacturing coffins and caskets, Mr Mbulayi also repairs and makes different kinds of furniture.

He encouraged youths to do something challenging and marketable and also make use of government schemes and programmes to earn a living instead of depending on their parents. ENDS