REPRENEUR RDINAIRE; o Phaswana
One of my biggest challenges as an individual would be trying to tame my big hairy ideas into small manageable bite-sized ones; trying to slow down my zeal to meet reality and most of all finding that balance. It has been an even bigger challenge to run several businesses as a single mother because that means I have a household to run but no fallback income that acts as surety. Being in business sometimes means onemeal-a-day days or no electricity, in order to see a goal through. From a small business perspective, our challenges border around cash flow and bridging the gap between invoice payments and production/supply. That is one of the biggest obstacles of a small business and needs utmost resilience and perseverance to survive. Like most businesses - big and small - the effects of Covid-19 have been gruelling, nonetheless we quickly re-strategised our road maps in order to stay relevant.
Do you consider yourself a serial entrepreneur?
I definitely consider myself a serial entrepreneur. I have already mentioned the businesses that I drive but I hunger for more. I have unvisited ideas for which opportunities have presented themselves and find it very difficult to turn them down. Anything that will contribute to the household of a fellow Motswana through employment, I consider it a blessing and there is always space for one more.
Do you have entrepreneurial mentors?
As much as it is good to make mistakes in order to learn from them, it is even better to learn from other people’s mistakes. It saves time, a lot of money and may even save the business itself, as such it is imperative to have entrepreneurial mentors, so yes, absolutely, I have mentors. To throw the spanner in the works, I think it is more important to have business advisors in various skill sets, such as financial management consultants, investment consultants, marketing consultants etc. These specialists are always abreast of the current markets and trends, and how they transcend to the pockets of consumers, which will have a direct impact on any business. That means they can give you current real time advice, which weighs a little bit more than acquired knowledge overtime, which may likely be obsolete.
You were previously in the FMCG sector, what lessons have been of most value to your entrepreneurial journey?
Being in the FMCG sector opened my mind to the world of manufacturing. I couldn’t believe how much the most trivial things came from other countries. We have products from a lot of countries crossing our borders onto our shelves but they are the simplest, smallest of products, which can be easily manufactured in Botswana. As an Assistant Buyer, I grew to learn and scrutinise the complete value chain of a product and, for me, that was the biggest eye opener. I got to learn and understand challenges and learnt from the mistakes of each party in the value chain. To name a few; the importance of branding and product presentation, meeting standards, consistency in both production and delivery, costing and win-win pricing… because you are in business after all, seamless and cost effective logistics, the importance of sales and marketing and, lastly, and with a lot of emphasis - a very robust team!
What advice would you give your younger self? • Travel farther • Cast your networking net wider • Talk to strangers… about anything • Competition is healthy • There is nothing new under the sun
…and to up and coming entrepreneurs?
• Calculate your risks • Study the markets • Knowledge is infinite! Equip yourselves with knowledge.
• Travel • Work smart and research • Some of the best places to learn are
from inside someone else’s business
•Invest in yourself, no one can ever
take away your skills and knowledge
• Perception counts