19 Mar 2014

There was a lot of fanfare when Poloka Bakery started operating. Business was good in Poloka, a small village in the Mahalapye Sub-district.

It was the only one and it seemed everything would be a smooth sailing. That was not to be, Poloka Bakery is struggling to make ends meet. The bakery is owned by three entrepreneurs: Ms Khutsafalo Pebe (31), Julia Amadeus (40) and Maitumelo Bamphorile (32).

Speaking in an interview Ms Pebe said since the beginning of the year the business has been doing badly. “Sometimes we don’t get salaries at the end of the month, business is so bad that sometimes we sell two loaves per day down from 12 loaves previously,” she said.

She said the bakery had reduced production sharply and only baked eight loaves which take three days to sell. Ms Pebe attributed the business mishap to stiff competition from tuck-shops which have mushroomed in the village, the thing she said they did not anticipate when they started  in 2010. Some households are also engaged in bakery.

Another thing, she said they lost a tender which used to sustain them. “We used to supply schools in Dibete, Mokgenene and Poloka with bread from 2011 to 2012, now somebody else has won the tender. The tender will revert to us in 2015,” she said.

Their business woes are further compounded by the fact that they cannot diversify their business since they have no license. “Since we don’t have a license we can’t diversify our business. Once we obtain the license we will sell drinks, milk, sugar and other foodstuffs,” she said.

Currently the business is in the process of building a spacious bakery facility but Ms Pebe said efforts to complete the building in time were hampered by the fact that raw materials were not easy to find. Ms Pebe said they started the business after realising that the local school bought bread from faraway places.

With the help of a social worker they grouped themselves and were funded by the European Union who purchased bakery equipment and taking the three partners to a-five-week training at Kanye Rural Industry Innovation Centre .

In addition, the Youth Development Fund assisted them with P100 000. In addition to bread the bakery used to sell scones and buns. With the revenue they managed to earn a salary of P600.00 per month which helped them take care of their families.

Despite the odds, Ms Pebe was optimistic that the good old days will come their way again come 2015. ENDS