11 Jul 2013

A Themashanga man who makes and sells various woodwork products has attributed the low sales his business is experiencing to lack of a permanent market place for use by small-scale business people in the North East District.

In an interview during a mini-show organised by the North East District Council (NEDC) in Masunga on July 10, 66-year-old Mr Kenosi Shimane said a market place would dramatically increase the visibility of their products thereby impacting positively on their small businesses.

He pointed out that they only depended on shows and exhibitions arranged by the council to reach out to more potential customers.Mr Shimane, who depends solely on the income generated from his woodwork business, produces various goods among them; mortars and pestles, walking sticks, traditional drums and other decorative wood products.

His younger brother, Mr Boitshwarelo Shimane, who produces similar items, blamed the poor sales on their lack of marketing of their products. He said currently they sell to customers in Themashanga and have not made any attempts to reach out to those in nearby villages.

Thus, because of the limited market, Boitshwarelo said life was generally difficult despite them producing good quality goods.

Boitshwarelo also decried the high cost of ferrying tree trunks for use in the business from outside the village; saying due to lack of their own transport they hired donkey cart owners who charged P100.00 for transporting a single load of trunks.

Nonetheless, he thanked NEDC social workers for supporting small-scale business owners. He said the assistance they received included being equipped with business skills necessary for running a successful business venture.

NEDC official, Ms Rosinah Maoba appealed to exhibitors to strive towards improving the quality of the goods they produced.

She commended those in tailoring for their continued improvement, urging those in other categories to up their standard to ensure they produced highly-competitive goods.

Ms Maoba also emphasised the need for them to properly price their goods without aiming for high returns overnight.

She advised them that setting their prices too high would result in them losing their customers to competitors whose goods are reasonably priced.

The mini-show intended to create a platform for small-scale entrepreneurs to showcase their products as well as to provide them with feedback on the quality of their products through the screening and evaluation of their goods.

Furthermore, the exhibition was used to select products to be exhibited at this year’s Botswana Consumer Fair due to be held in Gaborone. ENDS