14 May 2017

Ms Tlhomamiso Mogaetsho started as a mere waitress for Debswana in Orapa in 1990 and never thought one day her dream to own a hotel would be realised.
Ms Mogaetsho has proved beyond reasonable doubt that women can penetrate the industry, which in most instances is dominated by men. She was taken for studies in hospitality and tourism in South Africa at Natal Technikon by Debswana, which refined her skills and knowledge in tourism and moulded her into a business woman as much as a guest house owner.
Ms Mogaetsho worked for Debswana for 28 years and resigned in 2003 as a catering manager.

Ms Mogaetsho has always dreamt of running a hotel  and started her business by building multi-residential houses and later converted it into a guest house, which was self-funded at P1.5 million. The Curve Guest House started operating in 2014 and registered it with Local Enterprise Authority (LEA), which assisted with training her staff on customer service, safety standards, branding and monitoring of the project.
It has six rooms and three self-catering apartments to cater for long stays, which are common in Letlhakane due to sub-contracting companies working for the mines.
The self-made business guru seems to be dedicated and determined to upgrade her business as she has another self-catering apartment under construction which is already at roof level. The apartment comprises of six units, which have two beds inclusive of bathroom and toilet, with kitchen and lounge for sharing.

 The guest house does free laundry, outside catering and braais. Their target, she said was tourists, government employees, mine employees and contractual companies.
The Curve Guest House has a staff complement of 17 and is also willing to take students to do on-job training.
The challenges, the guest house faced, she said was lack of water. Ms Mogaetsho noted that they market the guest house through The Curve website. BOPA