GHETTO’S GO-GETTER

IN 2013, Florence Manyena called time on her 29-year teaching career.

The married motherof-seven was not lost to the world of education, however, swapping the classroom for an entire school as she set-up her very own institution.

Initially founded as a preprimary, Tabitha English Medium Primary School is now one of the fastest growing primary schools in Francistown.

Based behind Botho University on the outskirts of the city, the establishment is closing in on 400 students - three years ago, that number stood at just 13!

This is the story of Manyena and her school’s incredible rise...

Before we get into the business side of things, let’s get acquainted - tell us a bit about your background?

I was born in Zwenshambe, a small village in the North East; that’s where I attended primary school and did very well. I proceeded to Mater Spei and then to Francistown College, where I did my primary course before continuing to get my diploma in primary education.

After that, I taught in different schools in Botswana, starting in a remote village in the Bobirwa district called Gobojango. Interestingly enough, back then when the river was full, we used to hire people to carry us across in zinc bathtubs - we’d pay them P20 to help us cross the water!

What an introduction to teaching! So, how did you end up back in Francistown?

In 2004, I was transferred to Ikhutseng Primary and then Pelotswana, finally ending up at Our Lady of the Desert. I eventually left teaching to start my own business in 2013. I founded it as a pre-school in Somerset Extension. Later, when an opportunity arose to move to a bigger space where I could expand my business, I thought to myself, ‘If I managed with a pre-school, why don’t I try my luck there?’ That’s when I moved to the previous building in Block 10 and started my primary school. By then [May 2018], I had only 13 children in my primary department - by the end of 2019, I had 200 kids!

Wow, that’s impressive!

It was because of my hard work. This teaching career, it needs passion and the right skills. Skills where you look at the whole being of a child, supporting them physically, mentally, academically - combining all those, I think that is what made most parents enroll with us.

Sometimes I have to pinch myself at how fast we’ve grown - we’re now sitting at 390 children, with more being enrolled every day!