30 Apr 2015

Leteisi, also known as German print, has over the years found a place in the hearts of Batswana, especially women. Any traditional event, be it a wedding or celebration of letlhafula (harvest) will not be complete without it. In fact, it is almost impossible to attend a wedding anywhere in the country without spotting one. There have also been debate whether the German print should be designated a national attire.

However, the debates aside, the material can be a good source of income to those with a sharp eye for business. In Ditshegwane, about 15 km from Letlhakeng, 45-year old Ms Kebotshwere Ramosomane has identified such an opportunity.

Although she has not yet fully grasped the potential of the print into a good business opportunity, she is confident that there is indeed potential in it. Born in 1970 at Kgare settlement, Ms Ramosomane says fashion design is a talent to her.

“My wish is to have started early but because I did not have money to buy the necessary equipment to start a business I could not do much,” she says. In 1999, she says, the Department of Social and Community Development recognised her talent and enroled her for a year-long training at Reka Kgona Home and Workshop for the Handicapped in Selebi Phikwe, where she learnt practical sewing as well as reading and writing.

Ms Ramosomane saays after training the council provided her with a few materials and a manual sewing machine “but because the machine required physical strength I could not cope as I am a person living with disability. So I requested an electric sewing machine which they provided,” she adds.

Even though Ms Ramosomane does not specialise in the German print, she says it keeps her business going. “The print is a favourite for both the young and old. The elderly, however, buy more than the youth and they are not that particular on patterns, they just buy any readily available item as long as it fits,” she says excitedly

All she has to do is visit the coal post office when the pensioners come for their monthly allowance, and surely she would get a few customers.

“I once got a tender from one of the local choirs participating in the constituency competitions, and since then I have never got any other big tender to talk about. I always urge choirs to engage me when they need attire for competitions but they hardly do so,” says Ms Ramosomane abot some of her challenges. However, she brags that she can churn up to 10 dresses a day when she really have to meet a deadline.

Though the number may  be a bit surprising especially for someone who uses only two small machines, Ms Ramosomane says sewing is not a big deal. She says she normally cuts the material into patterns and size a day prior to sewing, thereby reducing the last minute workload.

Nonetheless, her biggest cunstomer is the local council, which she supplies with school uniforms for local pupils. However, business is only good at the beginning of the year when new students start standard one.

Ms Ramosomane says she is still in negotiations with the local school authorities for a tender to provide the school with uniforms, and that she is hopeful that one day she will succeed. A mother of two boys, Ms Ramosomane says she currently works alone as her daily work is not that demanding and would only employ a temporary assistant when there too much to do.

“It’s a tough question. I have observed my elder son and sometimes when I ask him to go and sell some of my clothes he flatly refuses, wondering how people will think of him selling dresses as a male but the younger one seems interested because he is usually willing to help around with minor chores. Perhaps it is because he is still naïve,” she chuckles when asked about whether her boys are interested in her business.

Ramosomane’s business has the potential to grow big, according to her forecast. She says at the moment the only hindrance is a few materials that the council is yet to provide, such as a generator to power her machines.

She says the one-roomed space she operates from belongs to a relative because she does not have power at her house where she could otherwise be operating from.

“I have been operating from here free of charge but of late the owner wants me to move out,” she says with a somber face. Ms Ramosomane, it seems, does not just sing praises for her business. She has proof that indeed it has emancipated her from poverty. Initially she dwelt in a mud hut but since she started her business, she managed to build herself a four-roomed house where she stays comfortably with her children.

She says she started building the house in 2000 as a single room, and has been extending it since then. She is planning to include bathrooms and a kitchen in the near future. She proudly relates that even in rainy seasons, she sleeps without fear, and that her family never goes to bed on an empty stomach.

“A few years back before I started, some food items such as meat, especially chicken were a luxury but now I can provide for my children,” she says.

She adds that as a person living with disability, she cannot cope with some physical work, especially at the ploughing fields but says her business has enabled her to employ labourers to debush, weed and do the general work in the field.

She says this has enabled her to produce enough food her and even sells some at the Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board. Ends