10 Jun 2019

There is no age barrier when it comes to making that one step to pursue that business interest and making a success out of it.

All it takes is the right mindset and right attitude. At the moment the issue of youth unemployment  has become the buzz word in most countries, particularly in Africa.

However, thirty-one-year-old budding entrepreneur, co-director of Studio 24, a multimedia company and author of The Art of Starting Small,  Mr Kenneth Mmipi knew from an early age that he wanted to make a name for himself and change his family misfortunes to fortunes.

As are many stories of people who have made it in life, Mmipi’s story is no different. 

His poor background motivated him to do more and turn things around.

His mother, a cleaner then, and his father a groundsman’s combined earnings could hardly put food on the table.

Mmipi recalls that at times he would go to school with torn shoes and this broke his heart, but at the same time he longed to make a success of himself.

While at Pule Primary School in Gabane, he sold sweets and snacks. 

At a junior secondary school the young Mmipi and his friend sold newspapers at the mall. After they made their first P1 000, they felt they needed to make quick bucks and they changed their line of trade to selling hot dogs.  Things did not go as expected and they ended up making P2 000. The duo decided to consider a business that would spin money fast and bought shares in a local bank with the P2 000.

The day Mmipi was sent his share of dividends in a small envelope, he remembers that he was so excited that he gathered members of his family and relatives to prove to them that indeed he owned a bank account.

When he opened the cheque, to his amazement his dividends amounted to P2. 

One can imagine the backlash he received from his family, but that is another topic for another day.

That’s just how passionate and unrelenting the Gabane born was in his journey to pursue his business dreams.

He says, “From a young age, I have always been business-oriented, I would sell almost anything,”  he chuckles.  But that is how his story goes. Mmipi completed Form Five and went to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Multimedia Studies in Malaysia.  Armed with multimedia skills, he designed a T-shirt label and sold the label for P50 000. He used the money to build his mother a house.  Upon graduating from the university, pressure from his parents to look for a job was high.  He got a job offer which was paying P7 000. 

He worked for only one day and quit the job the next day because he never wanted to give up on his dream to one day own a business. 

This landed him in trouble with his parents.

The young entrepreneur went on to register Studio 24. 

He started the multimedia company with two directors.

As it would have been expected, the business struggled in the first phase of its month. 

At one point in 2012 they owed over P35 000 in rental arrears, which had accumulated over six months. 

This was the make or break point in his business journey. 

The landlord dragged the company to court, but that did not deter him from continuing fighting for the survival of his business.

As fate would have it, the company broke even during the same year and made about P400 000. 

From there, the rest was history as the company started making millions. Mmipi’s success started the day he decided to make a list of people he needed to get rid of in his life and only keep a list of those he needed to be friends with.

These are the people who are his business mentors as well as those  he needed to do business with.

This is a secret that the young go-getter advises all young people to cherish so that they can connect whatever ideas they have with the right people.

Mmipi has now ventured into property and to date he has seven properties under his name and still building a guest house with 20 rooms as well as a conference facility.

His multimedia business has produced renowened documentaries and stories among them Travelogues, Our Heroes Our Pride. Mmipi is also married to his high school sweetheart. ENDS