29 Jan 2018

Nothing in life is impossible if you put your mind to and people should learn to break the limits and follow their dreams in order to change their lives for the better. These are the words echoed by Kemodisa Moilwa, aged 35 of Sehithwa, who makes a living through art.

He owns a company called Whole Arted Crafts and it specialises in painting and drawing, landscaping, sculpturing, printing and car branding.In an interview, he explained  that his passion for art started when he was at primary school, noting that while other children played after school, he would be busy doing some art works. “To me, art is a God given talent and it so more like a calling as no one in the family taught me. I was born an artist and I am happy that I followed my dream to the letter,” he said.Although he was doing exceptionally well at school, art became his priority because he was more passionate about it.

He pursued his dream until he completed his BGSCE at Maun Senior Secondary School in 2001.After completing his studies, he did not waste time and applied for a course in painting and decoration at Maun Technical College to sharpen his skills.

“Unfortunately, I did not finish the course because he felt that it was not resourceful as it specialised more in general house painting. So I decided to continue using my God-given talent to produce more products to sell,” he added.

In 2003, he secured a job at Craft Centre, where he worked as a decorator for a year. He saved some money from this job to start his business. He also registered with Thapong Visual Arts Centre in Gaborone to showcase his works and penetrate the market.

Moilwa, who had applied for Youth Development fund, was funded with P100 000 in 2016 and has been running his successful business since then.Although, he revealed that operational space remained a major challenge for his business due to high rentals, that did not dampen his spirit.

Currently, he had constructed a mini workshop at his place in Thito ward where he operates.Moilwa explained that he  advertised his business through a word of mouth and social media such as Facebook.

He explained that since his business was still new, he had found it difficult to penetrate the market. However, he is optimistic that once his business was well known, the market would not be a problem since Ngamiland was a tourism destination.“Art is a viable business, if marketing is well done. Marketing is not something that you do once-off when you launch a business. Business conditions change continually so your market research should be continuous as well,” he added.

In an effort, to intensify advertising, he intends to hold youth exhibitions in schools and strategic places around Maun. The first exhibition is scheduled for Makalamabedi Junior Secondary School beginning of February and the objective is to sensitise students so that they can appreciate the importance of art and how it can turn life around when things seem to be falling apart. Moilwa appealed to the public to buy his products.

Also, he also called on parents to fully support their children by encouraging them to pursue their dreams. He said they should know what their children’s ambitions were at an early age and give them courage. To young people, he said they should discover themselves and see that it was important to have positive mind thinking in order to reach greater heights. He urged them to take advantage of government available interventions in place to fight unemployment ENDS