24 Mar 2015

Six years ago, she was as poor as a church mouse. Poverty was written all over her face. The easiest escape route, she thought, were government hand-outs but she was told she was not eligible.

Her undoing was that Ms Ganetsang Theka was able bodied. However, that alone was no guarantee that she would be able to put food on the table for her three children.  She had to find a job but that again proved a mountain to climb. That was in 2009. Was she doomed? Were it somewhere else and not in Botswana, yes she would have.

However, after turning her down, the Tutume Social and Community Development (S&CD) office would not leave her in the lurch just like that.  Instead, she was advised to seek assistance under poverty eradication programme. She was overjoyed. The four year she took to finally get help seemed just a flirting moment.

Ms Theka was so focused and determined to turn a corner and take charge of her life. Consequently, in 2013 she received bags of cement to mould bricks for a poultry house. Instead of hiring someone to mould the bricks, she did it herself while on the other hand working for Ipelegeng.

 The money from Ipelegeng only paid for the builder. Soon the building was off the ground and would receive her first batch of 150 chicks with the promise that she would get another batch later.

However, disaster would strike when 50 chicks of her chicks died due congestion and heat because the structure was too small to accommodate 150 chicks. However, all was not lost as Ms Theka used the part of the P4 500 she made after selling the remaining 100 chicks to expand the structure. 

Since then she never looked back and the stock of 150 chicks is keeping the business going. However, she explains that there are challenges in acquiring feeds.  Based in Tutume, almost over 100 kilometers from Francistown where she gets her stock including feeds, this comes at a steep cost to her business.

 Transport costs about P50 but sometimes she can spend up to up for a single journey. However, Ms Theka also lamented the high cost of feeds, noting that they sometimes set her back P3000. 

Despite the challenges, Ms Theka’s business is able to make profit and she is determined to grow even bigger. Currently, she operates from the backyard of her mother’s house but the aim is to acquire a plot to expand her poultry business. ENDS