17 Feb 2019

Ms Gofaone Busang has hailed the just ended Gabane Youth Business Pitso for imparting business skills to youth entrepreneurs.

Speaking in an interview, Ms Busang who benefitted from the business pitso, called upon youth entrepreneurs from Gabane to come together and share notes.

She said, as a branding entrepreneur, she was able to network with others on how to run such businesses.

Ms Busang said the initiative played a big role in moulding entrepreneurs’ confidence and self-esteem because they were taught public speaking and how to interact with stakeholders.

She further said through the initiative, she was motivated by entrepreneurs who had already made it in their respective businesses.

“I have been able to learn how to handle the ups and downs of doing business,” she said.

The youthful entrepreneur, who has an Associate Degree in Event Management from Limkokwing University, said she started volunteering her services such as protocol and etiquette training to the pitso when it started in 2017.

She said as an unemployed youth, a year later she was motivated to start a branding business as a way of sustaining herself. She started with printing t-shirts as well as branding glasses and caps.

“Before volunteering my services to the expo, I was not interested in starting a business, but with all the motivational talks by other entrepreneurs, I was then inspired to start a small branding business which I operate from home”, she said.

Ms Busang said she chose to do a branding business as a way of exploring her talents because she had always been passionate about it.

She started her business with a start-up capital of P700 in which she bought plain t-shirts and glasses of which she branded them Sefophe Rocks, in trying to build a sense of belonging about her home village.

After the success of Sefophe Rocks, Ms Busang said she did another branding, this time with Gabane Rocks and it did well.

She noted that she still outsourced a vinyl cutter and heat presser since she did not have the funds to get her own equipment, but she planned buying her own after making enough money.

Ms Busang said the use of social media platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp as well as referrals remained a strong strategy in growing her business and she was able to learn new things and interact with customers.

“Social media platforms have also played a major role in advertising my products,” she said.

Although the business was doing well, she said she was faced with challenges such as expensive transport to deliver orders to her clients and shortage of equipment.

Gabane Youth Business Pitso chairperson, Mr Blondie Malope, said the main objective of the expo was to encourage youth to become entrepreneurs as a way of tackling high unemployment rate.

Mr Malope said they invited successful youth entrepreneurs from Gabane to offer mentorship and inspire others.

He said businessman and founder of Studio 24, Mr Kenneth Mmipi, added value to the event since he shared his challenges and achievements stories.

Mr Malope said the expo had been a success story since they managed to secure CEDA as their main sponsor for the past two years, saying they also managed to secure a youthful target market that had keen interest in business.

He said Gabane Youth Business Pitso continued to produce entrepreneurs such as Ms Busang who had managed to secure a market base for their products and services.ENDS