13 Dec 2016

Patience has finally paid off for a young entrepreneur, Ms Malebogo Madimabe, owner of Destination Coffee Shop in Kazungula.

She had to climb mountains and cross rivers in order to realise her dream of owning such a business facility.

Ms Madimabe’s journey was not easy one as she was forced to drop out of Gaborone Universal College while studying business management due to financial constraints.

Speaking in an interview, the 33-year-old mother of two from Mochudi completed her studies at Molefhi Senior Secondary School and went on to further her studies just like any young lady.

But she had to drop out along the way, but that did not keep her down for long since she landed a job at Knut Agencies in Gaborone as a manager.

But because she had always wanted to be an entrepreneur, she left the job and started her own business of constructing swimming pools.

“The swimming pool business is a seasonal business, so I ended up closing it as it did not meet my cost of living,” she said.

She continued to look for opportunities that would give her a life she always dreamt of and hence Destination Coffee Shop was her next big project.

It was born out of several vacation trips in Chobe where she saw a business opportunity that could penetrate the mostly tourist market.

With the assistance of the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sports and Culture, she was able to receive P103 000 from the Youth Development Fund (YDF) to set up her own business.

“I love coffee, I also love cooking and my sister is a chef. Watching her cook gave me motivation to start up my own restaurant with a coffee shop,” said Ms Madimabe.She further stated that Destination Coffee Shop was initially started to assist night travelers as it is a 24-hour service shop.Her other target market are the villagers and the tourists and the market is good as her target market responds well.

Even though the market is good, Ms Madimabe said competition is high as street vendors who operate without permits are a cause for concern and this and other challenges are every business’s worst nightmare.

Ms Madimabe said she also buys her products from as far as Gaborone which becomes costly for her to transport them to Kasane.

Despite the challenges she faces every day, she has managed to do a lot for herself with this business.

“I have managed to build my mother a house and educated my children as well as take good care of myself,” she added.

She often meets with established business moguls around the country to share ideas and learn a lot from and with the information gleaned, she shares it with other youth as she has been invited to kgotla meetings to motivate them regarding venturing into business.

“I want to be able to give back to the community one day and also create employment for other youth out there,” said Ms Madimabe.

Although she would like to employ other youth in her business, she advised them to start up their own businesses, to know what they want and to ask for advice and then work hard to achieve their goals as nothing comes easy in life.

“Everything comes with a price tag, know what you want and focus on achieving it and make use of government schemes and programmes,” she emphasised. ENDS