02 Jul 2013

Having retired from paid employment and now taking care of her late sister’s children, Ms Florence Ramabusetsa (67) struggled to make ends meet, but she had to find ways to survive.

One day she heard that watermelons could in fact be made into jam, but she did not know how this was done. Ms Ramabusetsa was so determined to venture into jam making business that she fought hard to undertake a business venture.

This paid dividends as she is now owner of a company called Changu Jam based in Francistown’s. She graduated from the Poverty Eradication Programme in Francistown in 2012, and also attended a training course at National Food Technology Research Centre in Kanye to enhance her cooking skills.

The budding business woman said in an interview on June29 that it takes an hour to prepare a cooked mixture of watermelon to make a complete jam product. Currently, Changu Jam sells ginger and mild ginger flavors in the market and a bottle sells for P30.

The business woman says customers appreciate her products and some of them bought directly from her house. Ms Ramabusetsa says she has managed to acquire a barcode for her products and will soon approach various retail shops and schools around the country to supply them with her products.

She says venturing into business has so many challenges and she advised anyone who would want to venture into her type of business to be ready for the ups and downs associated with it. “One of my major challenges is that watermelons do expire, therefore you must have a good number to sustain you the whole year and learn good preservation methods,” Ms Ramabusetsa says.

She laments the lack of land where she can grow watermelons, as well as the lack of transport to carry her products to the market. However, she intends to have an office in town and employ a worker as her business grows. She has also diversified her business by selling flowers.

Ends