15 Jan 2014

December brings along the festive season hype, the excitement of the long vacation from schools and work, the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ and high expectations of the New Year, but once the December curtains comes down, the January nightmare begins.

In a recent interview, 31-year-old, Mr Thatayaone Chabaesele, the owner of Dikoko tse Ditona company, which is responsible for providing catering services and is a fast food joint, stated that business was low and in the meantime, they operated just to survive.

Mr Chabaesele further said that they had tried everything they could to bring in more customers but, to no avail. He said they could not do sales or specials because the prices they were currently selling at were low already.

Mr Chabaesele said the only way they could survive the January turbulance was because they had saved adequate funds knowing that this kind of situation would resurface as was the case every year.

He further said they were giving credits to their trusted customers hoping that they would pay come month end though, there was no guarantee that he will get his money.  Mr Chabaesele also said they were relying on government tenders even though they always faced challenges when it came to payments.

It could take two to three months before they could get their payments, he said. He stated that when it came to government tenders, there were issues such as tax clearance which was a major problem to small business because like his, they had to hire someone to deal with the accounting aspects of the business, but they did not have adequate capital to outsource such services.

According to Mr Chabaesele, Batswana did not earn much, so they should change their spending patterns. During the festive season people tend to spend more than they have only to struggle to survive in January.

He opined that government should consider paying its employees fortnightly instead of making them wait for 25 days. “For the 15 years that I have been in this business, I have encountered these same kinds of problems year after year”, said 47 year old, Ms Rebecca Shimana. Miss Shimana runs a hair salon and is currently based in Tsabong.

She said she had tried everything she could to bring in customers but, business was still at an all time low. She further stated that this kind of situation had affected her business because she had bills to pay and a family to feed.

However,  Miss Shimana said being in business for so long had taught her ways of how she could survive in January. She said she had come up with saving schemes that enabled her business to sustain itself even during difficult times.

She too advised Batswana to be more careful when spending in the festive season. Mr Lebogang Mosetlane, a taxi operator elaborated that this time of the year was the most difficult in their line of business, more especially in a village where people were still getting used to idea of using taxis.

He said nowadays people had resorted to walking rather than using taxis. According to 37-year-old, Ms Mmapula Bonang, a street vendor in Tsabong, these days they only gave credit to their trusted customers whom they know and trust will pay at the end of the month.

She said they do not even make enough to buy stock. She pleaded with all Batswana to be wise when it comes to the festive season expenditure. ENDS