15 Apr 2015

Ms Hanna Lecha’s life journey is a true reflection that nothing comes easy and perseverance pays.

Born in Maun in 1973, Ms Lecha is a woman of many hats. She is a biologist who holds a Master’s degree, a motivational speaker, a trainer and an entrepreneur by passion as she describes herself.

From humble beginnings, she grew up in the dusty Boyei ward in a family of nine children with a single unemployed mother, thus her childhood was not easy. However, Ms Lecha believes that circumstances should not be an excuse for people’s failure but should rather propel one to aim higher.

“Poverty was tenacity for me to achieve more, that my children will not go through the same situations I went through,” she affirms. A visit to a business meeting by Amway in the year 2000 in Gaborone changed her professional life from pro-science field to the entrepreneur she has become.

She notes that although she had mixed feelings about that meeting, it was a turning point of her life. The book by Robert Kiyosaki, Rich Dad, Poor Dad Shifting quadrant, which was the first book she read outside her science field also had a positive impact on her.

“I then saw myself transformed from the left quadrant to the right quadrant,” she states. In 2003 she was called for an opportunity to further her studies to a doctorate (PHD), however she was confused.

She felt it was not what she wanted since it will separate her from her family and would hinder her to transform from the left quadrant to the right quadrant. The business networking meetings and the inspirational books by Kiyosaki indeed made her decide to leave her field of work and follow business aspirations.

It was in February 8, 2003 that she resigned from her work at University of Botswana (UB) as a Lecturer in the Department of Biological Sciences.

“I did not have an idea about what to do, but I knew I had to do something to move from the left quadrant to the right quadrant,” she said. She relocated to Maun where she operated a laundering company she had started in 2001. 

Although she invested a lot of money in it, the company failed. Ms Lecha did not give up, she started a milling brand Raboupi in 2003, which became a success and subsequently many sorghum brands started cropping up.

She was business wise to realise the competitors before they suffocated her brand, therefore she resorted to start a general dealer in 2006 against her husband’s approval, since he thought it was going to drain their income and fail like the laundering company.

Ms Lecha admits the general dealer business proved to be a challenge as she faced problems with cash flow and it was up until in 2009 when she applied for a property loan and developed the Laha General Dealer situated in Matomo ward in Maun.

However, she realised her problems were far from over since she faced challenges of employees with low morals and she was frustrated, felt stuck in one place and had thoughts of closing the general dealer.

“It was after undertaking a personal development course that I realised the problem was myself. As the entrepreneur, you always think the problem is the employees and they in turn think the problem is the boss, but the problem is yourself,” she said.

Ms Lecha noted that as a science professional, she was not trained for business therefore she had a shortfall in running her business.

She notes that the more she changed towards her employees, organised trainings for them as well and treated them as partners in the business, the more she experienced growth in her business.

“You can try many things but there is need to acquire new information, whether on employee or business owner, you need to change your input to change your results,” she says.

Ms Lecha acknowledges that personal development played a significant role in her entrepreneurship journey.

“Leadership is leadership, the principles are the same at church or at work and once you implement them you will see results and fewer frustrations,” she notes.

Ms Lecha is a motivational speaker, a coach, trainer and a member of the John Maxwell team, which nurtures professional coaches, teachers and speakers worldwide. 

Last year, she brought the first John Maxwell L2 Learn-Lead leadership training workshop to Maun. ENDS