23 Jan 2014

Everyone have a dream of living a happy life without depending on family members or associates.

This has been a dream of 28-year-old, Ms Kelebile Phologolo of Hukuntsi. Following her completion of Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) in 2004, Ms Phologolo did not resort to ill social aspects such as alcohol and drug abuse like many of her peers.

Ms Phologolo rather saw it fitting to join A He Eme Support group, a group which teaches life skills and spread message about HIV/AIDS and related issues through theatre in Hukuntsi.

She explained that during her stay with the group, she was teaching pupils in all primary schools in Macheng areas life skills as well as mentoring and coaching other members of her social groups with theater skills ahead of the constituency arts competitions.

Her involvement with the group did not go unnoticed as she would be remunerated with a monthly P500 stipend to buy toiletry because they were working on voluntarily basis.

She however reaped something valuable during her tenure from the group as she was sent for a three-month course in business management by the support group. Subsequently, the District Multi-Sector on HIV/AIDS Committee (DMSAC) also sponsored her for a two-month training on the same course.

Her completion of the course tricked an enthusiasm for entrepreneurship, which later gave birth to Up Town Laundry services, which is strategically located in the middle of the village, she said.

She said credit should be given to the Youth Development Fund (YDC) for funding her proposal to the tune of P90 000. She bought two washing machines, two dryer machines, an industrial hand iron and a press iron. She said her laundry business specialises in three services: washing, drying and ironing which all carries different price tags.

Moreover, Ms Phologolo explained the business does not only provide laundry services to the community but it has also created employment opportunities to two young people.

She cited the delay in customers to pay for her services and high building rental as the main down falls of her business “One has to be extra careful and enduring when dealing with customers as some are reluctant to pay despite been satisfied with your job,” she said.

She pleaded with the Department of Youth to revisit their loan re-payment requirements, adding that one should not be expected to repay the loan in three months after the of commencement of the business. She said the business needs to be established first before it can pay its expenses.

Ms Phologolo said through endless advertising campaigns, she gain more customers every day to boast the profit base and manage to pay all the business expenses.

She emphasized the importance of customer satisfaction and highlighted that she occasionally carries out customer service surveys to enquire on how she can best improver her customer relations and service delivery.

She also said hard work, dedication, perseverance, respect for customer needs, monitoring and evaluation of business’s progress on daily basis are all weapons for any business to reach its destination.

Her advice to people who have the passion to start their own business is to go for training in one of the business courses to get the knowledge of running the business.

She said tertiary education is particularly essential for the success of any business. She also advised business owners to work together to exchange ideas and experiences. She said the reason why businesses are struggling to survive is primarily due to lack of collaboration and joint venturing where possible.

Ms Phologolo remains optimistic that her business will at one point expand to dry cleaning services  and create more business opportunities in Kgalagadi to assist government in addressing the high youth unemployment rate that are rife in Botswana. ENDS