12 Nov 2026

What started as a small personal passion at home, blossomed into a fully-fledged dream fuelled by late nights, trial and error and a deep love for her craft.

Ms Melba Keidibetse, a 31-year-old from Seolwane has decided to not let unemployment drive her into hopelessness. With jobs no longer easy to come by, Keidibetse delved into the production and sale of chilli sauce. She did not want to add on to the growing statistics of young people who finish school and wait to secure jobs.

In addition to her small business allowing her to survive, it also teaches her discipline, it grows her and gives her hope.
Ms Keidibetse says she started her backyard garden at home to grow black-eyed chillies and herbs for family consumption.

As time went on, she noticed her garden was full of ripe chillies. Instead of letting them to go waste, she decided to do something with them.

She thought of an idea to make her own homemade sauce, and that small idea turned into the start of her little business. The sauce can be used as a marinade, on burgers, hot dogs and even in food.  She subsequently researched various recipes and developed her own sauce, which was well received by the local market.

To make the sauce, she says she utilises affordable and readily available ingredients such as fresh chilli peppers, vinegar and salt.  Ms Keidibetse’s culinary interest equipped her with essential knowledge of flavour combinations, recipe formulation, and food preparation techniques, which significantly eased her transition into entrepreneurship.

What began as a personal hobby naturally evolved into a viable venture, enabling her to transform her cooking skills into a sustainable chilli sauce enterprise.
After producing a large batch of bottled sauce, Keidibetse took it to the Martins Drift area to test the market. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive.

One enthusiastic customer labelled the sauce “Mel-Baba,' combining her first name, Melba, and 'baba,' the local slang for extra-hot chilli. Embracing the name, she officially branded her product, accelerated production and began advertising nationwide.

Today, the sauce is highly sought after, with market demand stretching as far north as Kasane. Ms Keidibetse started purchasing chillies from other farmers in order to produce more sauce for her customers. She says the business is now thriving and has enabled her to support herself and her family.

Because she has grown, her backyard garden is no longer able to produce all the chillies she requires, and this has compelled her to source some of the chillies she uses from other farmers, which makes supply erratic. Additionally, the packaging containers for the sauce are only obtainable in distant locations such as Gaborone and Francistown.

However, despite encountering several challenges, she remains optimistic.  She says her goals is to attract more customers, produce a wider variety of sauces and create employment opportunities. Furthermore, she encourages people to start their own businesses, especially those that do not require a lot of money to start. She has now diversified into other income generating ventures, including selling perfumes and offering cleaning services, in an effort to increase her earnings and improve her livelihood.

Keidibetse encouraged people to persevere and remain committed despite numerous challenges, as adversity ultimately strengthen the business. She also encouraged youths to never underestimate their business ideas. ENDS