03 Aug 2015

Bernard Matthews displays pure admiration when he walks about in his factory, modestly presenting his finished products.  

The quality is exquisite but it can only mean one thing, behind the handiworks is a man whose gift cannot go unnoticed.

This is the man on the driver’s seat of Masa Manufacturing Company, an enterprise that deals in steel welding.  The company is already showing signs of huge potential and perhaps poised to become an industry leader in its own right.

Suffering from polio at the age of 10 which left his leg incapacitated, Matthews, however, never let the scourge put him down. He is now a proud husband, father of six and entrepreneur of repute.

His disability has never been a factor to what life throws at him.  The Tatisiding born, never looked back after he got training in craftwork at Tlamelong Rehabilitation Centre for the Disabled in Tlokweng during the 1970s.

It was here that his dreams began to take shape.  After five years of study, Mathews worked for various textile companies, after which he quit formal employment to start his own business fixing radio sets. He learnt the craft from his uncle and operated the business from a small outlet he rented at the show grounds in Gaborone.

The business thrived so much that he managed to buy himself a car.  While the business was still growing, he applied for funds under the Financial Assistance Policy (FAP) to start a carpentry business. The business collapsed because he had bought the wrong equipment.

The 53-year old then decided to stick with the welding business as it was a lot easier since it did not require much. He fixed sewing machines, radios, ironing boards and manufactured plug spanners.

In 2001, he applied for a residential plot in Mmopane where the business is currently operating from.  He operated the business from home increasing his product range from burglar bars, steel gates, tables, chairs, doors, window and door frames, and almost everything made from steel.

In 2002, he registered his company.  Since then, Matthews says his welding business started doing well.  One of the highlights of his business was when he won a tender for the Arable Land Development Programme (ALDEP) to supply 63 donkey carts between 2008 and 2009.

His business then gained popularity.  Mathews reckons it was given his hard work that the Ministry of Health built him a workshop to operate from.  He was funded with P10 000 to buy building material.

Unfortunately, when he applied for extra funding to expand his business, CEDA turned him down given he was not operating  from a commercial zone.  Nevertheless, CEDA was able to give him funds to buy raw materials to supply Botswana Police Service with portacabins.

Matthews is upbeat that the business is now at a stage where he can be entrusted with big projects.  Currently, he supplies Botswana Power Corporation with pole brackets, a lucrative contract that has brought financial stability to the business.

Notwithstanding, Mathews’ enterprise faces challenges just like any other in that he is still battling to convert his residential plot to a commercial one to grow the business further.

Nowithstanding, Matthews is determined to take his business to a new level.  His company cars are branded, he has opened a sales marketing office in Gaborone to primarily handle all sales and marketing services such as online marketing.  

He has connected internet in all his offices and created a website that advertises all his products.

All these, he reckons, have earned him recognition, integrity and huge profit margins although he still has to come to terms with skyrocketing prices for raw materials.  

Matthews’s life has changed a great deal. The business has boosted his family financially and created employment not only for him alone but for his wife and first born son who also earn salaries.  He has employed 13 people.

He thanks the President for all government programmes that are geared towards uplifting the lives of Batswana.  He proudly says he is a living example that disability is not inability.  One of his goals is to rope in other people with disability into his business and transfer skills to them because his is a God given talent that needs to be shared.

His son, Aubrey Matthews, says he is learning everything he needs to know so that after his father retires he can run the business effectively.

Goabaone Mononi, an employee, says Matthews has taught him many skills in the welding industry.  He says working with Matthews is such a good opportunity as they all work freely around him and he pays them well and on time. Ends