04 Nov 2020

Ms Rethabile Konopo is one of those who did not conform to the perception that one’s academic qualification limits them to one career.  

The 35-year-old Mochudi native, who amongst other notable accolades, was the 2019 Southern Africa Entrepreneurship Award nominee and Thompson Reuters Foundation Frontline Human Rights defenders working to advance access to justice, is a marketing graduate, who now owns a Labour Law Consultancy firm for low income earners in need of legal services.  

The story of how this marketer turned ‘law practitioner’ started when her previous employer transferred her from the marketing department to the human resources department, where she developed an interest in  labour issues, especially helping the ‘underdogs’.

“In 2009, I started my career in one of the biggest retail outlets in the country in the marketing department, but after a few years, I was then transferred to the human resources (HR) department, where my love for advocating for minimum wage employees’ labour rights was born,” she explained.

Ms Konopo said after a few years in HR and clearly loving what she was doing, she quit her job to get some training to pursue her new found passion with abandon.

She now boasts of a post graduate degree in Labour Law and Honours in Paralegal, which means she can represent her ‘clients’ in labour law or mediation matters unhindered.

This feat, has turned the notion that an individual can only legally represent or mediate a legal matter, if they are a lawyer or have registered with the Botswana Law Society, on its head.

Ms Konopo said now armed with the correct arsenal, she decided to establish her firm; Konopo and Co.  to fill the gap that she had identified in the legal industry.

Lo and behold, COVID-19 has now presented this trendsetter with another opportunity to diversify her portfolio.

She has now branched into legal technology, a platform she described as the next best solution, which provides electronic legal billing tools that monitor documents, which legal practitioners write to ensure fair billing.

Her new found passion in law also prompted Ms Konopo to create an online magazine; Future Lab; a platform for subscribers to read about various justice systems, legal solutions, employment acts and case outcomes around the world, as well as pricing strategies and various legal technology trends.

She revealed that within a period of two weeks, the magazine had gained 900 subscribers from all over the world, adding ‘I hope to bring in more legal writers to publish on my magazine’.

Currently studying towards for a Master’s Degree in Law, Ms Konopo said plans were underway to establish a Legal Practitioners’ Academy to train young Batswana in legal technology. ENDS