10 Jul 2018

On their first meet, none of the five women knew anything about roofing, or let alone any knowledge on making corrugated iron sheet.
Persuaded by the desire to change their unfortunate fate, none of the women could find solace in the fact that they were all sheer dreamers.
Ideas were thrown down and pounded upon, research conducted, prayers offered and ultimately a decision had to be made and it had to be precise. Sisters with faith precept, which brought them together gave birth to Siwifa, a Tlokweng based corrugated iron sheet making business.
 Operated, owned and managed by the sisters with faith, Siwifa is establishing its footing in an untapped business of supplying customer specific iron sheet. “We cut corrugated iron sheets as per building plan specifications. There will be no cut off wastage,” said Ms Keorapetse Mamona, Sifiwa managing director.
As such, house roofed with Siwifa manufactured roof sheets have minimal chances of leakages, she highlighted. “Our products are very different from what you get in the market, they allow water to drift quickly and air to stream easily,” Ms Mamona stated.
Before venturing into business, Ms Mamona and co-owners, Ms Jacqueline Sediakgotla, Ms Mpho Zachariah, Ms Emmah Mogotsi and Ms Boipelo Ramatlapeng went around various hardware stores studying corrugated iron sheets available in the local market.
Surprisingly, all the iron sheets available in the market were provided as per the supplier’s specifications and size, consequently forcing the buyer into submission all the times. In some cases, there is no emphasis on quality hence hardware shops are pushing for highest profit margins regardless of quality.
“We are proud of our product, it is specifically designed to address consumers’ outcry about leakages and strong winds,” Ms Mamona stated. As such, the Chinese manufacturers of machines used by Siwifa were given detailed specifications in designing the machines to suite the local market.
“The uniqueness of their products has brought positive feedback from our customers,” said Ms Mamona.
What lured most customers to Siwifa is their ability to cut iron sheets according to the house plan specifications. Already, much of their customers are individuals from Tlokweng, Gaborone and other nearby villages and mostly come by referrals or outreach.
In fact, when the business started in 2016, the owners would go around various villages looking for any construction site to sell their product and the tried and tested word of mouth marketing strategy paid off as many embraced the product.
There were also an attempt to lure local hardware stores to buy in the concept but that had not produced the much desired results. “We left samples in hardware shops but we had barely seen customers referred to us,” she stated.
Nonetheless, she is not worried as she is alive to the fact that hardware stores sell the same products they are selling and success will not come cheaply. “We have met with the South East District commissioner and we are on constant communication, he has promised us support,” Ms Mamona said.
She stated that Siwifa has also submitted profiles in various local authorities to solicit business support and they remained optimistic. “We are not saying they should support us because we are women, but the quality speaks volumes,” he said.
Currently, the five ladies are the sole workers of Siwifa wand they are eager to expand and bring more staff on board. The business was funded by P350 000 by the department of Gender Affairs, which was however insufficient to help them start full operation.
Subsequently, the sisters who are also church members, approached CEDA for a loan of P380 000 which assisted in sourcing materials and helping the business to operate.ENDS