29 Jun 2015

Gomotsegang Khama, Kobela Bricks managing director, is one hard working woman who has used Financial Assistance Policy (FAP) for a good cause.

FAP was a government initiative meant to stimulate productive employment and diversify the economy. The policy was introduced in 1982, and substantially revised in 1995.

In an FAP evaluation, government concluded that the programme had succeeded in creating jobs for the unskilled in a cost effective manner.

Meanwhile, Khama is of the view that government is active in promoting thriving businesses to ensure dynamism and entrepreneurship exist. She is a determined woman who ventured into a business that many people perceive a male domain.

Her brick moulding and concrete products business, situated in New-Look in Lobatse, has grown in leaps and bounds.

She says she started in earnest with a funding of P8 000 in 1995 and since then it has all been smooth sailing.

Khama started with manual moulds but now boasts three-face hydraulic moulds and electric moulding machines with a staff complement of seven people.
The number of staff is expected to grow as the business is also soaring.

An electric moulding machine produces 12 stock bricks while a hydraulic one produces 24 at a time.

A three-face moulding machine produces 10 interlocking blocks at a time. As for a six-inch, it produces four at a time while the four and half produces six at a time.  
Khama believes that running a successful business takes strategy, no matter how small the business is.

She says she acquired knowledge and skills after mentoring she received from Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) hence the prudent resource management of her business.

She says she developed interest in brick moulding after buying sand and bricks to build herself a house but ended up donating the building material after a friend’s house collapsed due to heavy rains.

After that, she says, people started requesting for her services, leaving her no choice but to venture into a brick moulding business.
She supplies individuals, Lobatse Town Council and some companies.

Her product line includes three different types of bricks as well as interlocking material, kerb stones, paving slabs, storm drain covers, concrete feeding troughs and decorating blocks.

Khama says she currently supplies an individual in Gaborone with 100 000 stock bricks, adding her clients are always happy with the quality she supplies as well as her service.
She says she always delivers within agreed time frames and strives to meet customer expectations.

She is appreciative of government initiatives. She says government is doing more than enough to improve the standard of living for Batswana.

Khama owns a huge chunk of land she acquired through FAP.

Even though she benefitted from FAP, she is of the view that all government initiatives bear fruit, adding only what is needed is to put them to good use.

She says if Batswana can believe in government assistance programmes, their lives will improve. Ends