06 Dec 2021

Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) has bought machines worth P460 000 for Maun based  Siso Textile and  Corp.

This would assist the company  to expand from branding and embroidery to manufacturing quality products.

The citizen owned company would now manufacture school uniform, protective personal equipment and corporate uniform. Its chief executive officer who is also the owner, Mr Tshepiso Robert said funding came at the right time since the company was on the verge of closure due to market challenges.

Mr Robert was speaking at the grand opening of Siso Textile and Corp  on Saturday in Maun.and  “When the tourism sector went down due to COVID-19, we also went down and we were planning to shut down September this year. We had already written our mentors and employees.”

“I have been to different workshops locally and internationally as an entrepreneur, to assist me expand the business,” he said.

He said the company had also opened a shop that would sell their products locally and across borders, to increase cash flow and not depend on orders only.

Mr Robert said Siso textile employed seven people, two of whom were designers.

The first business he owned specialised in branding when he was still at the tertiary. , studying Software Engineering.

He later moved to embroidery though both businesses ceased operating.

Mr Robert said though his course included entrepreneurship, he never dreamt of becoming an entrepreneur but things changed when he could not land a job after completing tertiary studies.

It was then that he decided to revive his t-shirt branding and embroidery business.

“After getting married, we took a personal loan and bought the first machine and registered a business in 2014. We were previously operating from our home garage,” he said.

He said CEDA purchased a machine worth P160 000 for the business and that came in handy because the one they had been using no longer functioned.

LEA business consultant, Ms Constance Phokoje said the company requested space at their factory shells in 2019 and from that time they developed a relationship.

She said LEA assisted entrepreneurs with a vision to grow especially those into manufacturing but with no place to operate from. Tokafala Programme business advisor, Mr Nyaladzi

Monyamane said the programme which was an initiative between government, Debswana, Debeers and Anglo American was mandated to support citizen owned companies.

He said the Programme capacitated companies in the tourism value chain on survival means during COVID-19.

Siso textile, he said, was one of the companies identified since it was on the brink of collapse due to lack of market.

It was after graduating from the Tokafala Programme that the company was able to acquire expansion funding from CEDA.

“It had limitations as it only did embroidery while some customers wanted a full package, forcing the company to outsource. ENDS