19 Mar 2018

When 25 - year- old Tshiamo Bodilenyane graduated with a degree in Advertising from one of the prestigious universities in Botswana, she imagined that she would make something out for herself and become successful.

But as fate would have it, she soon realised that life was not a bed of roses as it took more than four years of formal education and a university qualification to  survive one of the harsh realities facing many youth in Botswana; unemployment.

She revealed during an interview that instead of staying home and crying foul over lack of jobs, she decided to make something that would sustain her and put food on the table as well as keep her going every day.

The idea came in the form of home-made cocktails. She uses  products such a fruits, alcohol, yoghurt and ice-cream and her clientele ranges from small children to adults who normally request her services during kiddie’s parties and events such as birthday sessions, baby and bridal showers. “I get orders from my clients to cater snacks such as finger foods, kebabs, virgin and alcoholic cocktails. Because I also serve to kids and people who do not consume alcohol, I decided to make some of my cocktails non-alcoholic so that no one gets left out in experiencing one of the most mouth-watering cocktails ever made,” she explained.

“For those who take alcohol, I add products such as vodka, rum and Amarula and mix them with fruits such as mangos or pineapples and fruit juices to create the most mouth-watering cocktails and people love them,” she said.

When preparing finger snacks for clients that prefer alcohol, Ms Bodilenyane explained that she would soak her potato wedges, meatballs and vegetables in wine for a couple of hours before grilling or baking them and once they were ready, she would coat them with a home-made sauce that compliments her finger snacks well.

With no formal training to back her cocktail-making skills, Ms Bodilenyane has always loved experimenting and learning new things. While still at university, she learnt on her own how to mix certain ingredients together and the end results impressed her friends who she said had always been her biggest critics and judges.

She later perfected her skills and once she became confident, she decided to try and make money out of it and she never looked back. Although she faces challenges such as lack of money to purchase necessary ingredients for her products, she has not let it deter her from realising her dream.

She envisions venturing into a catering company serving food and cocktails in future and owning a big franchise.

“I have learnt a lot from my experience with making and selling home-made cocktails and I would like to encourage youth to make something out of anything even if they did not get any formal training for it or went to school and studied it. Creativity is key to everything. You can turn everything and anything into something valuable if you put your mind to it,” she added.

Ms Tshiamo juggles her cocktail-making business with her full time job as a graphic designer and marketing officer at Brand hub as well as an administration officer at Leak Care Engineering. She also models and works as a brand ambassador for a local clothing line called CJ Teezy line. ENDS