Magowe, who hails from Lesenepole in the Central District, revealed to Arts & Culture in an interview that people should not be deterred to venture into photography.
He said although photography was overlooked by many as a profession that could put food on the table, it has now emerged as a lucrative business. “The photography industry is more profitable than people can ever imagine.
One can never go wrong in this industry,” he said. He said the niche is being able to know the basic skills of marketing by creating awareness for your entity. "If you are doing your marketing right and people know that you exist and your work is right then money just keeps on coming in as events don’t stop,” he explained.
Though Magowe boasts great confidence that the photography industry is profitable, he revealed that just like every other industry out there, they too have suffered huge impediment in the past.
“Events are always there, they don’t stop, but it was tough during the times of COVID-19 and that is when we suffered but still with that our government was there to rescue us with subsidies,” Magowe stated. Furthermore, Magowe stated that when he started his entity it was not profitable like it is now. “Propictures was founded in 2015 here in Gaborone, and it had a slow start just like any other business that is at its infant stage but in the past years the business has been doing really well,” he added.
To bring affirmation to his notion that the photography industry is profitable, he stated that his business boasts some of the big company names as their clients that help keep his business afloat. “Its biggest achievement has been having to work with some of the biggest corporates here in Botswana, corporates like Alexander Forbes, Botswana Savings Bank and Maruapula English Medium School just to name but a few,” Magowe said. Magowe indicated that people on Facebook think that his work is only about shooting weddings but he says weddings are not the only occasions that he is doing as he cannot afford to put himself in a corner.
“Propictures provides high quality video production, photography, public address system, graphic design, live streaming and many more and for this reason we do not only focus on weddings but we explore other opportunities,” explained Magowe.
When encouraging other people to join the photography industry, he stated that people should possess at least passion for photography that they will ride on and push them. “In this industry, peoples’ mandate should be to focus on delivering to the client’s request and the results of visual design communication and never forget to have passion for what you are doing so that you produce the best work,” he concluded.
