30 Apr 2015

Her world came crushing after she failed her Botswana Government Certificate Secondary Examinations (BGCSE) at Matsha College a few years ago.

She did not know what would become of her future given the high unemployment rate in the country.  As if that was not enough, 32-year old Ms Lesego Ramoeng’s efforts to better her life hit a snag after dropping out of a secretarial course due to financial constraints.

A gutsy fighter she is, Ms Ramoeng did not give up. Instead, she enrolled for an auto mechanics course with Jwaneng Technical College. Again, lady luck never smiled at her in that she failed the course and gave up pursuing her dreams.

“I already knew a lot of things about fixing cars but fate had other plans for me and I could not graduate. That is when I came back home and started plaiting people’s hair to pass time,” she recalls with a tinge of sadness in her face.

However, in 2005 she discovered that what she called a hobby could actually put bread on the table. Therefore, she took her skill to a hair salon in Jwaneng. This is the same environment that helped her hone her skill and inspired her to do even much better.

In pursuit of her dream, Ms Ramoeng finally enrolled for a hair dressing course at Ramatea Vocational School last year, after which she got government funded under the poverty eradication programme to set up her own hair salon.

Notwithstanding that she operates from her parents’ bacyard, she says business is moderate as on good days she is able to save something for rainy days. Apart from sustaining herself and her three children, she uses some of the profit to renovate her parents’ house and installing a ceiling in her salon as well.

“I am the sole breadwinner of the household so the day to day funding of the household depends on me, and therefore my business has become handy in that regard. For example, I am able to buy food, pay for electricity and every other bill for the house,” she explains with a beaming smile.

The fact that she is not paying rent enables her to engage temporary helpers from time to time, especially on public holidays when business is booming. However, her road to success has not come without challenges; there is no geyser in the house so it takes a while to warm water prompting some of her clients to express displeasure.

“My wish is to install a geyser and washing basin for convenience sake as well as to compete with other similar businesses in the village,” she says. Consequently, at times she is forced to reduce prices to beat her competitors.

Nonetheless, the little hiccups have not deterred her from appreciating what government has done for her and many others to improve their standard of living.

Her cries have not fallen on deaf ears as the council is working round the clock to ensure that plumbing for the house is done so that she could start using washing basins.
“The washing basins are part of the package but we are still finding out how we can help so that plumbing is done,” says Mabutsane Sub-council principal home economics officer, Ms Beauty Isaac.

Furthermore, Ms Isaac explains that they are doing everything they can to support poverty eradication projects, and they have encouraged public officers and other stakeholders in the village to support the salon on personal basis.

To reach out to the community, Ms Ramoeng has also been encouraged to erect a sign board because it is not easy to locate her salon since it operates from a backroom with no signage.

This way, Ms Isaac says, it will attract more customers and make huge profits. “We also encourage them to keep their books updated so that they can effectively monitor progress of their projects and find ways of improving them,” she adds. Ends