02 Jun 2019

Even though government is encouraging the purchase of local products through initiatives such as Economic Diversification Drive (EED), some indigenous manufacturers are feeling the pinch as customers continue to prefer imported products over locally produced ones.

One such company is the Francistown-based toilet paper manufacturer - Ndapiwa Enterprise, which was established by four women and one man in 2011 and is now operating in the red as a result of lack of support from the local market.

The company’s managing director, Ms Masego Botseka said the business was not running at full capacity due to lack of support from the local market and it was producing the bare minimum to meet some of its obligations, such as paying rent.

“We expect locals to be our immediate customers as this will assist us to inject money back into the country’s economy,” she said in an interview recently.

Ms Botseka therefore called on procuring entities and individuals to heed government’s call to buy locally produced goods, to help grow the country’s manufacturing industry.

She noted that a number of local manufacturers had closed shop due to lack of market.

Ms Botseka said another challenge was the issue of companies that often want to buy products from local manufactures at lower prices without taking into cognisance the costs of production.

The 42-year entrepreneur said their project was funded through Gender Affairs Department with a startup capital of close to P300 000 and during the first years of operation, it made impressive profits and grew its customer base, supplying toilet paper to at least four different companies.

She however said the company ran out of manufacturing materials in 2012, which led it to request supplementary funding from the same department and were funded to the tune of P200 000 in 2013.

“A year passed without toilet paper production. We lost our clientele and trust to deliver,” she added.

The entrepreneur noted that production continued in 2014 with new marketing strategies in place to reach a wider audience and to hopefully regain former clients, but it was too late as their clients had turned to other suppliers.

“As if that was not enough, two other directors died in 2015 leading to reduced manpower,” she explained, lamenting that all this happened at a point when the company was expecting to possibly take-off.

With the demise of the other partners, she said, the business experienced stunted growth and cash was running out.

Another tragedy befell the business as two other directors pulled out of the business as they could not cope with the challenges it was experiencing, she said.

“We had low to no sales at all as customers did not want to support us anymore therefore other partners decided to quit,” she recalled, resulting in Ndapiwa Enterprises production coming to a standstill.

She said although she felt like the captain of a sinking ship, closing a business they had invested so much passion, time and money into, did not cross her mind.

With three directors on board, Ms Botseka is optimistic that towards the end of the year, the business would be up and running at full capacity. She  revealed that they were currently working on re-branding it.

She shared that he love and passion she had for the toilet paper manufacturing business  kept her going throughout the ordeal,.

“It is not about the money but the passion for what I do to help those that are in need. I work hard to empower other women to believe and trust that they can do anything they put their mind to,” she said.

Ms Botseka urged Batswana to support each other in order to contribute towards the development of the economy. ENDS