10 Mar 2022

This year’s theme for International Women’s Day: Break the barriers and Ms Gosiame Elijah’s story are intertwined.

 Ms Elijah has turned her love for dogs into a money-spinning business.   

Apart from proving stereotypes wrong by her successfully venturing into the male dominated field, she has turned her life around, which is in line with the theme advocating to challenge stereotypes, fight bias, broaden perceptions, improve situations and celebrate women’s achievements.

The dog breeder has every reason to celebrate the day; she has managed to break the barriers and improve her life.

A Marketing degree graduate  from Gaborone Institute of Professional Studies (GIPS), Ms Elijah’s motto is ‘A dog is part of the family and don’t tell me to chain it when you visit.’

Entering her compound at Gerald in Francistown one cannot miss her love for dogs, evidenced by her interaction with them.  

She cuddles them, tenderly examines for ticks and injuries around their eyes and neck before setting them free.

The breeder who hails from Magapatona ward in Tutume, conducts the checkup like a professional veterinary officer.

Unlike other dog kennels, hers is well kept. No litter in sight, and everything is arranged meticulously.

When she shared her experience I realised that Ms Elijah was no ordinary dog breeder. She has fought all the way up beating poverty to become a self-reliant and inspirational business woman.

“This is a full-time job. You have to monitor what they eat, what they do and whether they are sick or not,” said Ms Elijah who currently owns six dogs whose breed ranges from German Shepard (straight back), Cross swizz plus Germany, swizz, gray hound and stikker.  

She explained that though her dogs cannot betray her, it’s difficult for her to introduce them to anyone including her closest friend, her boyfriend.

“Apart from being a business, I also have passion for pets and I regard dogs as my best friends,” she added.

Ms Elijah further indicated that the market for dog breeding was very lucrative not only in Botswana but across borders.

Her journey started four years ago after her brother observed that she had passion for pets following the love of their Tswana breed dog which was named Fire.

“Fire was my best friend and he would not be fed by any member of the family except me. I am also very cautious when it comes to hygiene and I would make sure that Fire was always clean,” she added.

She explained that her brother then advised her to go into dog breeding, the advice she accepted wholeheartedly though there were serious challenges such as money to buy new breeds.

The breeder started with two dogs, a male and a female and the first batch was a miracle.

The female dog produced six puppies and sold all at go with one puppy going for P2 000, and used the money buy their feed and also put food on the table.  

Since then, her journey has been a marvelous one as she was sometimes approached by security companies such as Security Systems through referrals.

Most of the time dogs were fully booked due to high demand.

“These are friendly dogs even though it took me a long time to understand them. They are loyal, caring but tend to be jealous when on duty,” she added.

She explained that the German Shepard was calm  and a fast learner, which did not tolerate harassment.

“Above all they are not harmful unless provoked,” she said.

The breeder said lady luck came her way when one of the qualified dog trainer from the military offered her a free service and trained them for her.

She said her intention was to approach all security companies, the police and other institutions to consider engaging her dogs during special occasions such as police raids, clean-up campaigns and night patrols.

Ms Elijah now wants to grow her business as she has a 34-hectare farm in Shashe Bridge which she intends to use part of for dog breeding whilst the rest will be used by the family for ploughing purposes.  

“The motive behind is to cross borders and penetrate the international market because dog breeding has quick returns,” she added.

However, she said this would take time because the business of dog breeding was taxing though rewarding.

She said she found herself  explaining her choice of career to  her peers who criticised her for being in a male-dominated job.

“I wonder why they think that way because men and women are equal in all spheres and women are capable of achieving any feat in life,” she said.

She said as women celebrated the international day, they should understand that there was no job reserved for any gender, adding that women were always behind because of being too choosy.

Ms Elijah explained that women representation in the workplace was very low hence they should take advantage of the male dominated jobs and fight poverty.

She appealed to the government to assist dog breeders with subsidies because it was a costly business.

“Though the dogs are flexible with any food especially donkey meat, they are very expensive to raise and maintain,” she added.

Botswana International Trade Centre (BITC) Business director in Francistown, Mr Gaorekwe Gaorekwe advised Ms Elijah to take her business across borders given its viability.

He said some locals were now exporting to the US markets and making a kill, with a puppy selling for about  P20 000. BOPA