27 Mar 2019

Thirty-nine-year-old designer, Ms Gofaone Letamo says she utilises skills she acquired from school to keep her business afloat.

In a time when job opportunities are scarce, even for degree graduates, securing a job is not as easy as it used to be. Government also insists on graduates to consider pursuing entrepreneurship as another way to create employment.

Ms Letamo has heeded the government call by establishing in 2013, Gopel Designs, a company that tailors different range of clothing including safety work suits, wedding attires and school uniforms at Tati Siding.

In an interview, Ms Letamo who operates from Tati Siding said although there were benefits in terms of returns from being an entrepreneur, it was not easy. Fortunately for her, she said she was armed with tertiary training as her ultimate arsenal in keeping her business afloat.

“My dream has always been to pursue a career as an entrepreneur, particularly as a designer hence I saw it wise to enrol in a school so that I can get proper training,” explained Ms Letamo. She then enrolled with Palapye Technical College where she graduated with a Trade Test C in dressmaking.

She would also later enrol with Limkokwing University in Gaborone to further her studies, where she studied diploma in fashion and apparel design.

By then, she said she was still a youth with so much enthusiasm about everything dealing with designing clothes. School opened her mind to see the world in a whole new perspective, she added.

“In school, you get exposure to a lot of things beyond classroom lessons, the practicals we did moulded me into a better designer and entrepreneur. What we are taught in school is basically what happens in the industry, therefore school prepares you for everything,” explained Ms Letamo.

After she completed her diploma, Ms Letamo said she was funded through YDF to the tune of P96 000.

The funding came as a blessing to her dreams as an entrepreneur because she was able to buy the necessary equipment like industrial sewing machines which were a centre piece to the daily operations of the business.

Six years later, Gopel stands to be the only surviving business in the village among all those who were funded in the same year. It has created employment for one youth who serves as Ms Letamo’s assistant.

However, according to the mother of three, it was not easy to keep the business afloat due to ever challenging conditions. But, she acknowledged her time in school to have helped her to be a better businesswoman.

 “One of the most essential training I have come to appreciate from school is the business courses we studied. In our trade, we always face different challenges and using the skills I learnt in school I am able to manoeuvre somehow,” she said.

According to Ms Letamo, as a business owner and a designer at the same time, she has to wear a double cap of roles. As much as she has to meet client’s deadlines, she also has the duty of marketing and advertising the business.

Above all, Ms Letamo said with an arsenal of skills she got from school she managed to survive the test of time.

“I am married with three children and I am able to help out at home with the little I make. I have a responsibility of providing for my family and through this business I am capable to play that role,” she explained.

Furthermore, Ms Letamo said Tati Siding was a small village with a low clientele base, and that she has to compete with more established designers in Francistown.

She explained that business tended to fluctuate, adding that there were times when they hardly got customers, around January and March.

“Sometimes we go for a long time without a single client, but we have to pay bills like rent and others. One other thing almost every fabric in Botswana is imported, sometimes a client will choose a fabric which is not available in our local suppliers therefore requires me to travel to South Africa to get the requested fabric,” she said.

She said weddings were their biggest clients from April up until December.

Currently, she said her other challenge was learning free hand cutting, as she still relied on pattern cutting. She said pattern cuts were time consuming compared to free hand which she believed would accelerate meeting deadlines.

Her plans include developing Gopel into a big company which would be able to tender for big jobs in government and private companies. She also wants to contribute to the country’s economy by creating employment hence her aspirations to expand her business operations. ENDS