15 May 2018

With government promoting self-reliance by providing Batswana with different schemes to eradicate poverty and create employment, it is no wonder some Batswana stand up to take advantage of such to improve their living standards.

One such is Miss Ellie Kgokilwe of Draaihoek Tailoring and Dressmaking Services, who was funded through the Poverty Eradication programme in 2012.

The 56-year-old said, in an interview with BOPA, that she was given a singer straight sewing machine and an over-locker to leave her old way of sewing.

Admitting that hers, like any other business, faces challenges, she said she was determined to overcome all of them.

She cited lack of market in her area, but said she took it upon herself to travel to nearby places to sell her products.

Kgokilwe said there were difficult customers who took long to pay and those who claimed her products were of inferior quality, revealing however that she took everything in her stride.

She said the programme has had a positive impact on her family as she can now provide for her family’s basic needs such as school fees.

She said her aim was to find a plot where she would build her tailoring and dressmaking empire and employ other Batswana whose dream was being tailors and dressmakers.

“We are lucky to have a government which cares about the lives of Batswana,” she said, urging other Batswana to take advantage of government schemes to change their lives. ENDS