14 Mar 2021

As a young boy growing up, Mr Gofaone Collen Selapisa was fascinated by the ancient folk paradox of what came first between the chicken and the egg.

As a boy, he never thought that someday he would be involved in the matrix of chicken and egg.

“I never thought I would be in the chicken business,” said the 28-year-old, Mr Selapisa, who runs a layers poultry business in Ramotswa, in the outskirts of Ngotwane River.

He said as he grew older and wiser, he realised that the answer was neither here nor there, but, the paradox was just a brain teaser, which would never solve the dynamics of a grumbling empty stomach.

In fact, after finishing his form five, Mr Selapisa said he envisaged himself as a construction industry magnate and thus enrolled with the Construction Industry Trust Fund (CITF), where he did courses in plastering, bricklaying, painting and plumbing, to ready himself for the industry.

As he worked towards finishing the courses, his dream took a turn, because he started thinking more about poultry farming. 

“I started to think about starting a poultry business, although the closest I have been with chickens was during my school days at Matshekge Hill Senior Secondary School,” he recalled.

During the school days, he was taught theory on poultry production, which he thought was only good enough to help him accumulate points.

In fact, after completing at CITF, Mr Selapisa said he worked in one of the construction companies in Kanye, where he never lasted.

As he laboured in the hot sun, he started devising a plan to raise money to start a poultry project, but his main test was access to land and finance.

He said as life would have it, his cousin, Mr Onkabetse Selapisa partnered with him and assisted with project financing and they rented a poultry farm in Ramotswa.

The project started with only 200 layers and it grew gradually to accommodate over 700 layers.

Convinced by his dream and facing the fact that his only knowledge on poultry production was limited, he relied on guidance from the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Food Security officials.

He said as the project grew, he started supplying schools in Ramotswa, Gaborone and also sold to individuals, which saw him  becoming a familiar face at BBS and Station malls in Gaborone.

He cited BBS mall as his prime area, saying on a good day, they sell over 3000 eggs.

While he appreciates the support of the local government to small businesses, he said their main challenge with council was delay in processing payments.

He however said Gaborone City Council was the exception, as they paid suppliers on the same day of delivery, and hoped that other councils would emulate such a good practice.

According to the Bobonong-born youthful entrepreneur, failure to pay on time by procuring entities is a huge setback for small businesses like his, which are self-funded and dependent on daily transactions to see the next day. 

Mr Selapisa said failure to pay on time made them fail to honour their contract obligations of supplying.

“I have not been supplying some schools due to non-payments. I am forced to sell to individuals to raise money to buy feeds,” said the man, whose proposal for funding was turned down by Youth Development Fund (YDF), citing underperformance of previous poultry businesses.

“Yes we are many in the market, but I have survived to prove them wrong,” he gushed.

Nonetheless, the YDF decision has not dented his dream as he is working on securing a bigger piece of land back home to expand his business. His dream, he said, was to stock over 80 000 layers and seriously compete in the market, adding that the local market could still accommodate more eggs.

While many young people struggle to make ends meet, Mr Selapisa, who has employed three workers, said it was time young people accepted the reality that some would never find employment they so dearly seek.

To him it is all about devising means of putting food on the table. Ends