30 Apr 2015

Born and bred in the sleepy village of Vaalhoek in the late 1940’s, Mr Petrus Bok has done almost every job a man can possibly do to make a living but without success.

He has been to South African mines in the 1970’s, has been a construction worker, a police officer and even worked for the private sector hence his self-acclaim as Jack of all trades. Having traversed the length and breadth of the world in search of greener pastures during his hey days without any luck, Bok finally headed back home to start afresh.

He admits that even though he has at some point done some worthy jobs, he just could not make ends meet, something which finally compelled him to take a decision to enlist for the poverty eradication programme.

“It was in 2012 when I was enlisted in the poverty eradication programme with hordes of other less fortunate Batswana and we were taken to Struizendam for workshops on numerous business opportunities we could venture into to make a living,” he recalls.

Speaking from his work place, Mr Bok says after a worthwhile and fruitful workshop, he headed back home with one thing in mind - to own a business.Mr Bok explains that while he was growing up, he had the desire to work with leather hence the decision to attend workshops to learn how to make leather products. He says leather is as old as humanity and has stood the test of time as fashion trends change.

He says after the Struizendam workshop, he went to Malwelwe in 2013 where he was trained extensively in skin and leather making products such as shoes, jackets and hand-bags.
Mr Bok points out that after that extensive training he finally opened his own business which is now known in his locality as ‘Bok’s leather works’ and operates from a local hall.

“We had a very fruitful workshop but the problem was that I only received a P17 000 grant last November,” he says.

The old man who still exudes loads of energy despite his age, reveals that nonetheless, he  went into action as soon as the funds were disbursed while point at some of his products.
He manufactures leather hand-bags, cellphone pouches and belts, amongst others, however, lamenting that were it not for shortage of materials he could also be making shoes.

His hand-bags costs around P500, while a belt costs around P200 but adds that operating a business from as far as Vaalhoek makes customers to always want to negotiate for reduced prices given that business is slow.

Just like any other business, Mr Bok’s business too has challenges and amongst them is lack of market and transport for stock which he orders from Gaborone. Mr Bok also points out that he is still faced with a problem of producing on a small scale because he does not have equipment that can produce large quantities but concedes that the little that he gets can at least sustain his family.

Perhaps to prove how determined he is in realising his dream to some day become an entrepreneur of note in leather products, he says he is still conducting a feasibility study to determine whether he can make more profit should he increase production. He even hinted that if everything goes according to plan, he intends to ask for a loan from CEDA.

His word of advice is that people should take poverty eradication programmes seriously because they surely have a potential of getting one out of poverty. Ends