03 Dec 2013

It takes a lot of persuasion to convince the members of Diphuduhudu Bakery to open up and talk about the prospect, or lack of it, of their business.

They are reluctant to speak and nobody wants to admit being the leader and throw the responsibility from one to the other. Such reluctance is not because they have anything to hide. It stems from the fact that they have no confidence in themselves as they are all not educated.

The responsibility finally falls to Ms Mmaditshipa Rapuo, who has been trying to avoid the BOPA team by pretending to answer a call on her hand set. When she finally starts to talk, however, the 42-year-old oozes confidence with cohesion in her presentation.

“We are confident of the prospect on this bakery, but I would like to point out from the start that our main challenge is lack of education, especially on business management,” she said, stating that all the group members were not that educated.

“Lack of such basic grasp of issues is so serious that even when we buy stock for our bakery, we do not necessarily know how much we have spent on stock,” she added. “This then presents the risk of mismanagement of funds, not intentionally but out of lack of knowledge.”

Ms Rapuo said they had long requested that some of their members be trained in basic business management through the Remote Area Development Programme but their request has never been met. “We have only been trained in bakery and confectionary,” she said. “We strongly feel we need to be enlightened in book-keeping.”

The six-member team comprises four women and two men, with the men mostly working the perspiring task of operating the oven. Apart from the challenges of lack of basic education on business management, Ms Rapuo said the business was going on well, even though she expressed disappointment that the residents hardly ever bought bread from the bakery.

“Residents hardly include bread in their meals. Sometimes we go around the village selling our buns and when we enter a household they will tell us, ‘nnyaa kena le letoga la phaletshe mo ntlong, tanki,’” she said to the laughter of her colleagues.

She said most residents expect them to sell their products at low prices. “Batho ba batla borotho jo bo lekanang le tlhogo ya ngwana ka P0.50” she said.

Such lack of interest from residents has therefore left the bakery dependent on the local primary school as its sole client. So dependent are they on the school that Ms Rapuo believes that should the school pull out, the business will collapse.

Evidence is in the fact that during school vacations, they experience close to no business at all. “During school vacations we most of the time have a lot of leftovers which people refuse to buy the next morning, requesting for fresh bread.

We even try to limit production during such times to as low as around 60 buns per day, but still we have leftovers,” she said of the bakery that churns out over 500 buns daily at P2 a bun when the school is open. Rapuo’s male business partner, Mr Tshabiso Kamkoe, chipped in that their only gripe is that the council, which procures the buns for the school, takes long to pay them, sometimes even going up to about three months.

“This affects our cash flow as we have to buy stock. Right now we are still awaiting payment for the last three months, but we have to buy stock time and again to keep the business running,” he said.

Kamkoe said the explanation from the council authorities is that the problem is the network, which can be “down” for a number of days.

He however said they have been providing the school children with bread without fail despite this challenge.

He said the other challenge is that the RADP promised that they will supply the bakery with stock, but so far that promise has not been kept except assisting with provision of the vehicle for procurement.

According to Ms Rapuo, the bakery started operating in 2011 with only four women, but as time went on they recruited the two men to do masculine chores such as operating the oven They started with a mud hut and oven, but they were set back as people stole their equipment because the plot was not even fenced.

“The RADP later constructed a proper structure and accommodated us. The structure is supposed to house other trades such as tannery, dress making and welding, but none of them have moved in yet,” she said.

She said when they started operating the bakery, their business was booming as they also served soup and some meat, especially during month end when herdsmen had been paid, but said the authorities ordered them to stop as such was not provided for in their licence.

“They said we were supposed to operate a bakery and not a restaurant,” she said. Despite all this challenges, Ms Rapuo states with confidence that their business is nowhere near collapsing, and that they plan to employ the youth in the future run.

“At the moment all we need is proper guidance on business management,” she concludes. The bakery is one of the trails of the government’s initiative of eradicating poverty, especially in remote area dweller settlements that are far from resources. ENDS