LAUNDRY SERVICES FOR TUTUME Starting a small business is fast becoming one of the solutions to create means of survival, especially amongst the youth. One such young person is Ms Lapologang Maruatona, who hails from Bobonong and has established her own business called Lapo’s Laundry Services. Operating from a rented space at Tutume Central Business District (CBD), the business specialises in washing, drying, ironing, clothing and bedding. Ms Maruatona washes and polishes shoes and each service carries a different price tag that ranges from P40 to P95. Narrating her story on what she went through to achieve her entrepreneurial goals, one can tell that Ms Maruatona totally shuns the idea of being spoon fed. “After completing Botswana General Certificate in Secondary Education, I went for a short course in HIV and AIDS counseling in one of the local institutions and later I got a job as a temporary counselor at Bobonong hospital,” she said. She noted that when her contract came to an end, she sought and found employment at Pearl’s Dry Cleaning as a dry clean attendant. Ms Maruatona said while working at Pearl’s Dry Cleaning, many naysayers made fun of her and told her she is wasting her time spending the whole day behind the washing machine and the ironing board. “I plugged my ears to all the criticism and worked hard to gain experience that will help me achieve my goals as an entrepreneur. People who criticised me had no idea that I was not there as an attendant but wanted to gain some experience that will help me start up a business,” she said. With the experience she gained, Ms Maruatona was well equipped to start her laundry service and with her own savings, she managed to buy two washing machines, a dryer machine and an industrial iron. Early this year, she started operating her business at home because she was not yet financially stable and later on she moved to the CBD and she has now attracted more customers. With the business doing well, Ms Maruatona said she was able to attend to her basic needs and save some profits so as to expand her business to other parts of the village. “My intention is to establish this business in one of the village wards here, the demands of my customers grow by the day and I have also introduced other services such as carpet cleaning,” she said. Regarding challenges, Ms Maruatona said she has learnt that small businesses tend to operate on compassion, and customers receive services on credit. She lamented that some become difficult to pay despite the set agreement and as such it creates a draw back to the business. She also cited high rental charges and low business during mid-month as some of the challenges. The youthful business entrepreneur has advised other youth not to sit back and idle, adding that although unemployment continues to be a challenge, youth ought to be innovative and come up with strategies that can better their lives.In addition, she said the youth should try and establish their own businesses rather than look up to the government for all the financial support. “We are all looking up to the government to financially assist us, this means the competition becomes stiffer, but if we try and establish our own and turn to the government for a reasonable amount, most of us will stand a better chance to be assisted,” she said. Ends Source : BOPA
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 08:10:24 +0000
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