13 Feb 2014

Tourism is among the major contributors to the country's economy.

Over the years, there has been emergence of hospitality businesses particularly in the northern parts of the country. However, areas of the Kgalagadi region had since shown that with proper investment, there could be potential in this business.

Miss Maggie Stoffel is among those who have decided to delve into hospitality. She owns and manages Dikukama Hotel in Tsabong. The coming into being of Dikukama is a story that needs to be told.

The place where the hotel stands was initially her residential plot and she had built single rooms which she rented out to individuals in the village. With time, a dream was formulated. Maggie started to visualise a magnificent structure sitting on that piece of land, for the size and location of the plot were all the more encouraging.

Her first train of thought stopped at a guest house. Unemployed and with a couple of mouths to feed, inspiration was in abundance. The desire to create employment for a population that is considered amongst the poorest in the country propelled Ms Stoffel’s dream towards reality.

And today, Dikukama is amongst the leading industry players in the hospitality business in Kgalagadi and employs locals at her establishment. Renovating her one roomed house was the first step, followed by electrifying and putting in running water.

This was done so that she could meet the requirements of a guest house. Finance was always going to be a problem since financial institutions were not willing to assist a start-up business such as hers.  In 2009, the desire to succeed saw her granted a license to operate and since then, she has never looked back.
Ms Stoffel started improving her business.

She increased the capacity of the guest house from ten to sixteen rooms and that qualified Dikukama to become a select hotel which could now offer catering, deluxe, executive accommodation, outdoor events, conferencing and cocktail bar services. The process of becoming a fully-fledged hotel has started in earnest and she hopes to have attained that status in no time.

According to Ms Stoffel, acquiring a tourism license was one of the most daunting challenges ever. Being sent from one pillar to the other at the different departments proved what a mammoth task it was to secure the license. First she had to change the land certificate from a residential to a business. An environmental impact assessment had to be conducted.

All these processes took a long time, but none and no challenge, no matter how huge could deter her. Lack of skilled personnel is one of the challenges that they faced. People with skills in tourism prefer to go to areas such as Maun and Kasane where the industry is booming with opportunities.

She said very few people used to visit Kgalagadi, however the coming into scene of the Khawa Dune Challenge seems to be changing that. That coupled with the camels of Kgalagadi could change the tourism market segmentation forever and thus improve the performance of Dikukama for the better.

Ms Stofell further indicated that, should the annual Kalahari Desert Race move to the Kgalagadi area, it will be a blessing as they will reap a lot from the event and its associated kick-backs. Ms Stofell urges all those who wish to venture in to the tourism business to go ahead and do ot. Dikukama has grown in leaps and today it can boast of varying clientele ranging from individuals to government.

The hotel currently employs nine people and Miss Stofell also helps those who want to go into business by offering them free education on that.  ENDS