06 Aug 2017

Twenty-six-year old Bangwaketse Shell Filling Station managing director, Mr Gofhamodimo Motsosi is living proof that toil and high regard for work can turn ones’ life around.

His rise to the top, although some may shrug it off as a streak of good luck, was not without hard work.

Even during his early days as a petrol attendant at Gaborone North Filling Station, Mr Motsosi oozed vitality.

Having just completed his Form Five at Molefhi Senior Secondary School, Mr Motsosi was among scores of youth who wanted to carve a niche for themselves in the dog-eat-dog world of work before furthering their education.

Unbeknown to the then 18-year-old lad who hails from Mochudi, the year 2009 brought with it a lot of positives.

An embodiment of hard work, Mr Motsosi became an instant hit with both the filling station management and patrons alike, and in the process scooped employee of the month award; not once but on several occasions.

The reward also had a monetary incentive.

His exceptional service saw him go up the filling station corporate ladder to become a supervisor and safety officer in 2011 and 2013 respectively.

“I identified the need to have a safety officer at the filling station and sold the idea to the then manager, Mr Ambrose Phuti who did not only like the idea, but facilitated the payment of my occupational health and safety two year diploma that I did part time to the tune of P34 000.”

As fate would have it, Mr Motsosi’s position placed him in better stead to become a beneficiary of the first ever Vivo Energy empowerment scheme which was aimed at empowering young citizens to own a site.

The initiative, which formed part of Shell’s social responsibility programme, trained and mentored citizens from within the Shell retail network with the view to give them an opportunity to become retailers.

Imbued with a wealth of experience and having learnt the intricacies of running a filling station, Mr Motsosi had no qualms putting together sound business proposals that eventually won him the site.

“Notwithstanding competition from other aspiring retailers that I competed with for the site, I had confidence from the onset that the proposed site will be mine. I did exceptionally well right from being a petrol attendant and middle management positions over the years,” he said.

The vibrancy that engulfs Kanye Shell Filling Station gives away a lot about the influence Mr Motsosi has had upon his staff complement of 35 who are predominantly youth.

The filling station is teeming with a manager, 16 petrol attendants, a quality marshal, an accountant, stock controller, two sales representatives, six cashiers and six sales persons.

Mr Motsosi also give a lot of compliments to his business mentor, Mr Mahommed Ismail whose pearls of wisdom, he said had been the mainstay of the business.

“Remember that although I was given a site, I did not have start up capital and this is where Mr Ismail came in.  Not only did he buy uniform for the employees, he also paid for the initial stock and salary in December 2015, and to date he continues to visit and give advise to keep the business going,” he said.

Although the company went through a rough patch due to expenses incurred during the first year, Mr Motsosi looks into the future with hope and has put in place strategies to make sure the business does not only stay afloat, but becomes a force to reckon with in the oil business.

The result driven lad’s vision is to expand the Shell network of companies by opening more filling stations in future. Pursuit of dreams through hardwork and passion form part of his creed for successful business undertaking. ENDS