21 Jul 2020

Ultimate Hydro Solution founder and operations director, Mr Theo Dikgomo, says the business suffered a 75 per cent sales decline during a lockdown period.

Speaking in an interview , Mr Dikgomo said the decline in sales forced the business to stop production.

He said even though there was some decline in sales before the pandemic, the outbreak made matters worse, adding that most of the company’s reliable customers were also not in operation.

Mr Dikgomo said though they were hard hit by the pandemic, the wage subsidy eased the situation and their employees were able to sustain their lives for that period.

Another challenge, he said, was listing of their products to retail shops and wholesalers explaining that at the moment, they were only listed with Choppies Supermarket and Trans Africa.

“Still within this listing deal, they are making things a little difficult as they want to determine the pricing of our products and also order small quantities hence not benefiting us that much,” he said.

Despite all the challenges, Mr Dikgomo said the market in Francistown gave them a great deal of business since there was only one other water purification company within their radius.

He said Ultimate Hydro Solution came about in 2014 when he and his co-director, who were both soil and water engineers’ decided to make a plan to eke out a living.

Mr Dikgomo said after going through all the difficulties of starting a business, they received funding of P450 000 from Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sports and Culture Development (MYSC).

He said the business then started its operations in 2018, focusing more on water treatment, purification and conservation.

Mr Dikgomo said their customers were mainly lodges, government entities and individuals.

He said since they had shortage of bottles, they planned to acquire a bottle blowing machine, do treatment of dark water and franchise the business to other places.

He advised other youth to never give up, but follow their passion with dedication to succeed in life.ENDS