28 Mar 2019

While many people are yearning to enrich themselves with government initiatives, Mr Thusego Mautla did not want to be among such statistics, he used WUSA clothing and sportswear label to sustain his life.Mr Mautla was inspired by a passion for fashion design and such God given talent is one of the gifts he used to make a living.

Narrating his story, WUSA label sole entrepreneur said his love for fashion design and tailoring developed at a tender age and was influenced by his grandmother who was a tailor.

“Looking at my grandmother designing patterns influenced my passion for fashion designing. Admiring her smile when busy with her work gives me hope that indeed I can follow her footsteps to live my dream.

 I have long wanted to be a designer and having my own clothing label, helping her with her day-to-day work influenced me even more. She is my role model and I certainly don’t want to dishearten her. She gave me her warm blessings,” explained Mr Mautla.

After he finished his schooling, he worked at Chinese firms to enhance his skill and get ideas on how to run a clothing business.

He saved money to start his business. In 2013 Mr Mautla started his business located in Gaborone West near Tlhabologo Primary School.

He specialises in designing and tailoring WUSA printed t-shirts and tracksuits.Mr Mautla said the WUSA clothing and sportswear was his stepping stone to greater heights, and that his determination and hard work has made him to nurture his talent.

“Fashion designing is art and art is a strong thought. It is not a walk in the park, our prints, designs, quality and pricing strategy helped me beat the market.

Our pricing strategy is affordable, we value good delivery and customer satisfaction and our clothing is quality guaranteed,” he said.

He said price ranged from designs and prints with the cheapest t-shirt P160 while the cheapest tracksuit was P500.

Mr Mautla, who is known as WUSA, noted that last year they dressed Gaborone United in the Mascom Top 8, adding that trusted customers were social clubs, football teams and Sunday soccer teams.

“When you buy 100 replicas, we give you a free football kit and the discount is determined by the quantity.

At WUSA, we do not just take money from people; we sponsored schools like Tumasera primary, Mokobeng primary and junior schools. We also sponsored Kopong annual charity tournament as a way of giving back to the community and heeding the President’s call of helping those in need.”

Mr Mautla said their vision was to sponsor schools with WUSA printed t-shirts as a way of motivating learners.

Furthermore, he said they had partnered with Yarona FM Sunday soccer show whereby they sponsored player of the month in southern region Division 1, 2, 3 both in women and men teams.

He said sponsorship helps in marketing and exposure as WUSA was not a famous clothing label even though it was born way back.

He also said their main aim was to develop Botswana’s football at grassroots level and encourage youth to focus in sports and refrain from social ills, adding that sports could be turned into a career.

Like any other business, Mr Mautla said people were faking their label and that it was their main challenge as it affected the label’s originality and quality.

Despite that, he said the business was growing and that he has hired eight youth who helped in printing, designing and embroidery.

He appreciates Charma Gal who is the ambassador of his label, noting that she helped him in marketing and exposure thus contributing to the growth of the WUSA label.

He encouraged the youth to follow their dreams and live their passion, adding that they should not be money drivenl, but rather be passion driven. He said determination, hard work and perseverance paid, and that there was no sweet without sweat. ENDS