27 Sep 2013

Sometime in 2008 Nangura Tsie woke up from slumber and decided to enrol in the government’s Ipelegeng scheme at a tender age of 21.

She had just finished her junior secondary school few years back and was now ready to face life head on regardless of the challenges. At least from a young age she had a taste of running a “business” as she had, at school, sold sweets and biscuits to her colleagues.

While busy clearing shrubs from the roadside under Ipelegeng, it dawned on her once again that entrepreneurship was her key to success. With her first “salary,” just P300 she only bought herself a can of soft drink and saved the rest. Within the next two months she had already saved more than P1000. Within a very short space she had now quit Ipelegeng, running her own business having now bought a proper tuck shop structure.

“Everything is now manageable, it is more like my office, I don’t have to move around like before,” she said. Ms Tsie’s tuck shop has expanded that she also sells large quantities of food such as 12. 5 kilogram bags of all kinds of starch She said she noticed that most people spend time waiting for the bus just to get sugar or maize meal from Shakawe so she capitalised on saving their time, at a lesser cost.

With more than P1000 profit every month, she does not see herself working for anyone except doing something of her own. Already she has built herself a house with the money and is taking care of her parents. As an aspiring businesswoman she wishes to expand to selling clothes and would travel as far as Namibia and South Africa to buy stock.

“At the moment I am still waiting for my passport the moment it is ready, time for me to travel arrives.” One of the villagers Ms Makando Nyengutheva said that Tsie was an inspiration in the Xhaoga community and as the village grows, she believes she will be one of the powerful businesswomen in the village.

She said she thinks like an elderly person and young people like her deserve to be encouraged every time. The 26 year old Tsie has now applied for land in Mohembo where she wishes to have a big tuck-shop, which she said will target people as far as the other side of the river. ENDS