02 Jul 2014

The need to satisfy a service in demand from the community of Letlhakane has inspired a young entrepreneur to set up a small business of slicing meat.  

Mr Tiroyamodimo Mixon, the owner of Meat Lovers, a business operating from the backyard, says since meat is highly appreciated by Letlhakane residents, his aim is to help them prepare and enjoy their daily meal with their favourite relish, meat.

Mr Mixon says his business is thriving because of the good service he offers his customers. The journey towards setting up the meat slicing business started when he was employed as a fuel attendant at Puma Filling Station.

He says he was recruited by the late Mr Goitsemang Mmoloki who was operating a butchery in Letlhakane to work as a cashier because of his personality, as he was always assisting customers with a smile.  

He says one day while still employed as a cashier, he was forced to assist a customer as the person who was employed as a meat slicer had deserted work.

“I was always eager to assist customers, I was never comfortable seeing a customer going back empty handed in my presence, and I tried by all means to please my customers even if the demanded service was not in my line of duty,” he says.

To his surprise, Mr Mixon said as time went on while working as cashier, customers started appreciating his work and was later recruited by Bokolobeng Butchery where he worked full time as a meat slicer.

He says customers at his previous workplace also followed, adding that some also wanted him to go back to his work at the filling station as they missed his good service.

“I was so committed to servicing my customers as I even worked during lunch and even when on leave, I always believed that customers are  key to every business success and must always be treated with utmost care and respect,” he says.

Mr Mixon says after two years at the butchery his employment came to an end, and he went back to his former employment at Puma Fillling Station where he was offered jobs in different places even as far as Francistown and Tonota to go and work as a meat slicer.

He thanked Puma management for having given him an opportunity to go for short term training in customer service. “The community really appreciated my service as a meat slicer as they continued with the search to get me employment with butcheries.

The demand for my service came as a motivation to start the business. At first it was a part time service operating from the verandah of my rented house. I will start in the morning slicing meat for my customers before going to work in the afternoon,” he said.

After resigning from his work, he opened his own business in October 2012 to service the community during social activities such as weddings and funerals.


He says a business requires a devoted and focused mind with good customer care and a clean working environment. He believes that whatever bad happens to you in life, opens a window for you to prosper and achieve more.

Besides slicing meat he also produces mince meat. Mr Mixon admits that he never got any formal training but did on job training. He says as a person eager to learn and having a passion for reading helped him to research on potential business opportunities.  

Developing one’s own business idea is bound to prosper and become sustainable instead of a stolen business idea, hence the need for the youth to research and address challenges in society.

Mr Mixon says the backyard meat slicing business has so far created employment for one person, adding that his vision is to grow and even operate from an open space within the business enclave. Ends