Free - Testament Of Trial And Error
Cavin Kanoko | Monday March 9, 2020 12:37
Narrating her journey, Free said her friend’s eczema condition turned her into an entrepreneur.
“My friend was experiencing some difficulties due to eczema and while searching online for some natural home remedies to help her deal with the problem I got a breakthrough,” she said.
She later started a small business selling organic products even though at the time she did not manufacture nor process the products. The company was registered in 2017 but only started operating last year.
Free holds a Bachelors degree in Entrepreneurship and an Associate degree in Business Management from Limkokwin University. Besides her academic qualifications she has had extensive training in business leadership and she has also had an administrative job at Gaborone Automotive Engineering along with her most recent job at Evolutionary Branding where she quit October last year.
“When starting out I used my salary to buy the stock I needed because I saw the potential in investing in the business as people are now moving towards using natural and organic cosmetic products due to skin sensitivities and the like,” she said.
Free currently manufactures her products at home and even does her own packaging while she gets help with branding from her former employer, Evolutionary Branding.
She is currently focusing on building the brand and also establishing a customer base for the products as she attends open markets and exhibitions where she puts up stalls and displays her range of products. She is working on the business alone but reckons she might need to get help as the business grows.
She uses social media to market her products and has been effective as she is getting more requests from outside the country.
Touching on her future plans, Free said she wants to have natural and organic products including for hair and cleaning detergents, adding that her primary goal is to solidify her brand’s promise of quality products.
She also has plans to expand their business into the retail market and also into the international market.
“In future I am looking to foster partnerships that will be essential in empowering other Batswana entrepreneurs,” she said.