17 Feb 2014

Born and bred in the dusty streets of Gaborone West, popularly known as Giwawa, the trio of Onelabantu Ramontshonyana, Blade Macheng and Njiva Matsieng always had the ambition to do something worthwhile with their lives.

It is no surprise that the trio are now involved in various business ventures that they all own together. Having been turned from pillar to post when they tried securing funding from various financial institutions, the lads decided to dip into their savings as start up cash.

Government has in the past been urging the youth to get involved in businesses and that is what the boys from Giwawa did. With business in hair dressing, singing and a clothing brand, they managed to successfully pay attention to all three parts of their business and enjoying it.

During an interview, Onelabantu, who seemed to have acquired being spokesperson said within the clothing brand business, they also printed banners and designed couches. “Our company name is Ama”Cee”Ras and we are what we call hustlers from the street. Our hair dressing business is called Galaxy Hair and Beauty Salon and situated at the G-West shopping complex,” he said.

He indicated that they had employed 12 people in the hair dressing business, but as for the other businesses they ran everything themselves and also got a bit of help from friends on weekends.

On being quizzed on how the music business integrated into their entire business, Onelabantu said creativity was part of who they were, citing that hair dressing and the clothing part of was also art. “We love music, so why not do something we love and get paid for it,” he chipped in.

As for the machinery they use for branding clothes, printing banners and designing couches, Onelabantu said they were a bit pricey but they managed to secure them and the materials they use are mostly solicited in Botswana and sometimes South Africa.

“Our customers are mostly the youth who bring t-shirts and also business owners who want products in bulk,” he said.

On challenges that they are facing, he said sourcing funding continues to be a real problem. “We have again applied to the department of youth and still waiting to be called in for interviews,” he said.

He indicated that they also have a challenge of penetrating the government market, which is truly a big disappointment to them since government departments were encouraged to use small local businesses. Onelabantu said besides everything, business is growing and can even grow further. ENDS