Waste Is Money:Tsabong�s Popular �Toilet Man�
Lebogang Baingapi | Monday July 24, 2017 18:00
He is an entrepreneur at heart and he is known around Tsabong area as the ‘toilet-man’, simply because of his business of portable toilet hire and skip hire business. His, is an inspirational story of a plumber who attended a poverty eradication Pitso as a logistic personnel to ensure there was water at the event.
The Pitso later turned out to be a gold mine for Mojela who managed to get 22 business ideas from the event and the toilet hire business was the first he executed. From humble beginnings, Mojela registered his company Trusted Orders (Pty) Ltd and bought VIP toilets as well as and non-flush ones which operate more like a pit-latrine. He was also able to buy a franchise of Easy Skip Company through CEDA funding. Mojela was motivated by Vice President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s advice during the Pitso at Strainzendam.
At the Pitso, Masisi encouraged all the guests to learn from one another and start their own businesses. At that time he (Mojela) met officials from a company from Gaborone, which hired toilets and he got in contact with them to learn more about the business. It later turned out to be the easiest business to do and Mojela channelled his energies towards that. He started with one VIP toilet in 2015 and the market told him to expand and he bought more.
He was forced to approach different financial institutions for assistance and they responded positively. He noted that the market is currently penetrable and brings more easy cash through weddings, funerals, corporate functions and contractors. Leading with 16 portable toilets, a trailer and 10 skip bins, the 40-year-old has the Kgalagadi region eating out of his palms.
Though he expected to cash from the recent annual Khawa Dune Challenge, he was disappointed to learn that the Botswana Tourism Organisation did tendering in Gaborone and brought a company from Francistown. However, Mojela simply counts it as one of the challenges and moving forward, he intends to engage with the relevant stakeholders to make money. “I have a duty to teach Batswana about portable toilets and skip business and am hoping the government will also come on board to support my business.
I can also grow if the government departments can implement local empowerment,” Mojela said. The Tsabong youth office and the council are his main clients and he also acknowledged the support of local artists especially, Charma Gal who hired almost all of his toilets during her musical shows at Tsabong.
Mojela, who is a plumber artisan with Water Utilities Corporation, is not only making money out of the business. He gives back to the community as he did at the Kokotsha community horse racing event held over the President’s Day holidays. He offered non-flush toilets for free to support the event.
“The event was an eye-opener business-wise. I intend to add mobile showers to the business to assist the event’s participants,’ added Mojela. He engaged his niece to run the errands of the business during the week and over weekend he attends to major issues of the business to ensure customer satisfaction. He encouraged fellow entrepreneurs to choose what they believe in and not copy what other people are doing simply because they heard they are making money.