From setbacks to setups
Onalenna Kelebeile | Friday September 12, 2014 15:01
“A setback in life is a setup for a comeback”.
Those are the words of five women in Selebi-Phikwe who refused to regress into a state of despair and poverty when the firm that employed them folded up at the turn of the millennium.
When the unexpected loss of jobs came in 2000 and economic challenges became a reality, the only resource they had was the expertise they had acquired from the Back Pack firm that had employed them. They were counted among the statistics of unemployment in the mining town.
Today they own and operate Elegant Designs, a company specialising in backpacks and associated items like sleeping bags. They design different sizes and types of bags according to customer specifications and embroider any lettering the customer wants. One of the group, Marea Mogapi, started making dresses from her house immediately after she was retrenched in January 2000 when the firm wound down.
She immediately applied for a P13, 000 loan from National Development Bank (NDB) with which she bought a sewing machine, materials and connected electricity that would enable her to operate her machine.
She was funded by the then Financial Assistance Policy (FAP) and started sewing patched bags using residue material from the firm that would be bundled and sold for P5 each. One fateful day she caught a glimpse of a Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) advertisement on television sensitising the public on the services they offer.
“I enquired about LEA around town until I found their offices. They were still settling in but they gave me some forms to fill,” she said. For three months, Mogapi sat with the forms next to her because she did not understand them. She then sought help and submitted them.
LEA then linked Mogapi with the Department of Gender Affairs in Francistown, as there was no office in Selebi-Phikwe. She started attending shows and exhibitions through the two institutions’ assistance. The budding entrepreneur was advised to look for other women with whom she could form a syndicate in order to access funding from the Gender Affairs Department. Her former colleagues who had similarly lost their jobs at the previous firm immediately sprung to mind.
She also recruited a former bank employee into the syndicate to assist with the books.
The group received P159,000 in funding which they used to buy sewing machines, materials from South Africa and looked for operating space.
Prior to buying materials from South Africa they engaged through LEA to clean up the backpack firm in order to pick useful material that they could put to good use and throw away debris. The useful material was also added to the start up items. “We had to have a constitution and proposals. Gender Affairs helped us put everything in order. “We later linked up with SPEDU who were of great help and hence we never spent any money on private consultants in putting our business in order. “LEA and SPEDU were on our necks to relocate from home and look for operating space that would be more accessible and visible to potential customers and we did that,” said Ofentse Lupe, another founding member. The group’s commitment to the success of their business, despite the odds, saw them even forgo salaries for months whenever revenues were low, a sacrifice they are still willing and sometimes have to do.
The company was funded by Gender Affairs in 2011 but only became fully operational in February 2012 after LEA assisted them to identify material suppliers from South Africa. Through business advice acquired from SPEDU, LEA and Gender Affairs, the women registered a company, Elegant Designs, so that they could be better placed to bid for tenders.
A wake up call came when BCL Mine wanted evidence of a trade licence, tax clearance certificate and Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Board (PPADB) certificate before it could procure goods from the fledgling company. In addition, the Mine wanted the documents in order to include Elegant Designs on its supplier database.
The documents were crucial, as the Botswana Defence Force (BDF), which had shown interest in buying small items, equally demanded them upfront.
“At some point the BDF opened tenders for their military backpacks. We realised that we crucially needed a PPADB certificate which we did not have and we failed to bid,” Lupi recalled. “ Again BDF specified their material which we did not have.”
LEA assisted them to acquire the necessary certification, while also pressing the local authority to issue Elegant Designs with a trading licence. The group now possesses all the required documentation and members say they are ready to bid for any tender. However, the business presently depends on orders from individuals. “Last year we had a tender to design 30 bags among other little tenders,” said Lupi. The major challenge for Elegant Designs is lack of market for their products, which results in low revenues and forces members to forego salaries. The business has great potential but lack of marketing expertise is limiting the opportunities for greater visibility. “SPEDU do market us a lot and we also never miss any exhibition or market days thanks to LEA,” said Lupi.
“We will be attending another show in Francistown next week and for this we just pay a registration fee while the rest is taken care of by Gender Affairs.
“We wish to be more visible and be the first choice for people and companies in the SPEDU region and the country at large.
As a result of market challenges the business is yet to become self-sustainable as the little proceeds often go towards rentals, utilities and other day-to-day running costs.
The women eagerly await a lucrative tender from local companies, schools and other institutions which would place Elegant Designs on firm financial standing.
Despite the challenges, the women credit, LEA, Gender Affairs Department and SPEDU for equipping them with expertise, funding and support from the unsteady beginnings. “We credit LEA and Gender Affairs because they always ensure that we attend training on record keeping, market, taxation and customer care,” they said.
“We encourage other women who have suffered the agony of job losses due to firm closures to strive to do something for a living by accessing and making use of government programmes. “The good thing is that those women have experience from the firms they were working for. They must learn to listen to the radio and television to learn about new programmes.
“Never be afraid to take a business risk and ignore negative advice. Instead learn from those who have already benefited.”