19 Mar 2020

The latest entrant in the led light bulb manufacturing business is not intimidated by the goliaths of the industry.

The Selebi-Phikwe based company, dubbed Bulb World, is owned by the youthful and enterprising Mr Ketshephaone Jacob.

The first of its kind in Botswana, Bulb World aims to close the gap in the local manufacturing industry.

The observation made by Mr Jacob is that Batswana were not fond of manufacturing, something that compelled him to explore the area.

His company, which started operating in 2018, specialises in the manufacturing of electricity saving led lights and has the capacity to manufacture 20 000 bulbs a day.

The 33-year-old Tonota born businessman said his initial plan was to venture into the renewable energy sector because of shortage of electricity locally.

He, however, said after some research, which included some benchmarking trip to China, he realised the viability of bulb manufacturing in Botswana.

“I looked at the process and said to myself, my fellow people in Botswana could do this,” said Mr Jacob.

He said his research also led him to Egypt to see a company involved in bulb manufacturing which eventually resulted in a partnership deal after a year of persuasion.

“That was all because of my perseverance and commitment. I had to raise P2 million to invest in the project,” he said.

Quizzed on what set apart his light bulbs from the existing ones in the market, Mr Jacob said their light bulbs saved energy by 80 per cent.

“They also have a production span of up to 50 000 hours and a 36-month guarantee,” said the University of Botswana Media Studies graduate.

Given the need to meet supply demands, he said so far they have employed five engineers and 30 employees at the factory.

This, he said, was also part of the efforts to resuscitate the mining town of Selebi Phikwe following the closure of the BCL mine.

The young entrepreneur credited the government for the assistance through the Selebi-Phikwe Diversification Unit and the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre.

Mr Jacob also acknowledged the SPEDU incentives as beneficial, citing an exemption at customs when the company’s raw materials came through. He noted that he easily accessed permits for consultants and the facilitation of meetings between different government organisations.

He challenged different stakeholders to support him in his endeavour, not only for employment creation, but also the town’s economic growth as well.

He said his company had the potential to create more than 1 000 jobs.

He commended Batswana for their support, explaining that the bulbs were selling fast in supermarkets.

He said the company has so far done listing with Pick’ n Pay, Choppies and Shoprite.

“What we did was approach different retail shops and they have agreed to put the product on their shelves by end of March,” said Mr Jacob.

Mr Jacob said they were also in the process of engaging a distributor. He explained that like other start-up entrepreneurs, he only calculated money for machinery and other things and did not calculate money for marketing and sales. He said the company had to approach CEDA to source operation funds to rectify the challenge.

The recent tour of the region by Members of Parliament, he said, worked to his advantage as the town council would now be procuring the bulbs directly from the company.

The company has also put up street lights at SPEDU offices in Selebi Phikwe to showcase the company’s capability.

Production manager, Mr Gomolemo Kebopile explained that the company manufactured a range of led lights such as down lights, street lights, panel lights, flood lights and filament led.

He assured customers of an energy-efficient and durable product, adding that the bulbs were put through a quality assurance testing machine. Ends