17 Jul 2018

 When he was still at school and other students were dreaming and talking of working as nurses, teachers and soldiers upon completion of their studies, the then young Moses Ntebe’s dream was different as he wanted to own his own art and craft related workshop.

This made him to love art and craft subjects with all his heart and take them more seriously than all others.

That was many years ago.

Now at 58-year-old, Ntebe’s love for art and craft subjects is finally paying dividends, as he now owns and operates a successful flower pot making business in Francistown.

Speaking in an interview recently, he said after finishing school, he tried many art and craft related businesses, such as paint drawing and designing pictures using wood, but he failed because of lack of start-up capital and no place to operate his business from.

The turning point came in 2002 when he was hired by a Zambian businessman to work in his flower pot making workshop in Mahalapye.

Within a year, he had already gained a lot of knowledge and skills about flower pot making.

He said his work was easy because he was also providing the skills he learnt from art and craft subjects during his school days.

Ntebe revealed that in 2012, he decided to quit his job to start his own flower pot business in Mahalapye, using the money he saved during his working time.

He stated that his business was not doing well because he was operating in a very small area, which was also the wrong location for his type of business, but that did not force him to throw in the towel as he kept on working hard, including walking the streets of Mahalapye selling his wares.

In 2017, Ntebe said he moved to Francistown to operate his business because he considered that the market could be better in Francistown.

“It seems that I made a very good decision because in Francistown, I started making a lot of profit. I managed to rent a bigger place in a good area to operate my business,” he noted.

He said many people, especially women, buy his flower pots at a high rate, adding that sometimes companies and people who want to use them at weddings and parties even outside Francistown buy in bulk.

Ntebe added that flower pot making business needed hard work, determination and passion for it to be successful, saying that sometimes he wakes up at dawn to start work.

He said his satisfied customers’ help in marketing him because they tell other people about his beautiful and affordable flower pots, which helps in bringing more customers.

He added that he uses cement, sand and concrete to make his flower pots, which were strong and do not break easily.

Ntebe stated that he decorates his flower pots by painting them with different colours using his art skills.

Furthermore, he explained that it takes up to three days for a flower pot to be complete, adding that during winter or rains seasons, it may take a longer for pots to dry due to lack of lack of sunshine.

The experienced artisan said the only problem he faced was lack of transport to deliver his products to customers, especially those outside Francistown.

He said he was ready to offer free training to anyone who was interested in flower pot making, including students and advised fellow Batswana to avoid depending on government but come up with ideas to pull themselves out of poverty. ENDS