She opens up: “I like to think of myself as hands on, hardworking, dedicated and professionally driven”.
Powered by over 22 years of experience in the courier industry, Setlalekgosi says she is blessed with a good bit of common sense. She does not necessarily need to spend time in a classroom to acquire the skills to move the wheels of the courier industry. She quips: “I believe I am the best”.
As Setlalekgosi settles down in her new position where she is responsible for courier and bulk mail services, she has already set targets to meet.
Setlalekgosi, who has served 16 years with DHL, has pledged to improve the courier image of African Express in about six months.
Otherwise, she declared: “If I do not turn the company around, I will retire and go to settle down in my village. I believe I am not a failure. This is Pinkie Setlalekgosi”.
As the interview progresses, one of the managers at African Express, Murphy Tlotlo Phukula, who is responsible for the messenger delivery division, exclaims: “We need people like Pinkie to captain the ship! We wanted someone like her to help us build a good business reputation in the market and also improve our customer service delivery techniques”.
Bubbling Setlalekgosi supervises over 30 people at African Express and strongly believes that she was employed to improve the business operations of the company.
The first GM for Botswana Couriers points out that managers should strive to cultivate a sense of collective understanding of problems besetting individual companies with all employees in the best interest of improving service delivery to the courier market.
A steering pioneer of the courier industry, Setlalekgosi believes that an unhappy workforce impedes production, adding that it was the responsibility of the industry captains to ensure that the interest of employees are adequately addressed and their expectations.
She cautioned: “I do not believe in managers who spend all their time closed in cosy offices without understanding or even knowing the basic events surrounding operations of their company. Managers should think and act fast. They should make and take decisions timely for the development of the entire country.
“There is every need to respect everybody’s job portfolio in any given company. The management needs support from the staff to be able to function as a team”.
She pointed out that success of courier service providers was dependent on the market needs.
She adds: “For instance, my success in the courier business could be easily attributed to the fact that I know the needs of the customers out there in the market and I go an extra mile to meet their expectations”.
During her stint at Botswana Couriers, Setlalekgosi initiated a number of operational measures geared to make the courier company viable, and now the company attracts about 60 per cent of the domestic market share.
“We started with no clients when the company was launched about five years ago but now we have managed to attract 671 clients. I am proud to say that Botswana Couriers is the leader in terms of service delivery. I intend to do the same with African Express although there are challenges ahead”.
She joined Botswana Couriers in 2001 as its first General Manager. This was a new company and I came on board to set up the company in conjunction with the consultant for the project.
“As the Manager of the company, I was responsible for building the company from infancy to what it is today. At present, Botswana Couriers is one of the leading domestic courier companies with a customer base in the excess of 450. In 2002, the company also introduced a worldwide international service.
“The company’s turnover in just three years stands at over P3 million. It managed to achieve the sales revenue target in the second year and reported its first operating profit in the third year of operation.”
She was the woman behind the initiative to establish offices in Maun and Francistown for the courier company.
She worked for DHL International from 1986 - 2001 and was promoted to be Services Manager in 1988 - responsible for three departments, Operations, Customer Supervise all couriers, customer services and gateway. She liased with DHL Operations Worldwide and was also responsible for meeting Services Department targets, such as speed of delivery (within 2 hrs) data input, for instance, manifesting collected shipments, problem reporting, achieving shipment volume target (International documents, Parcels, domestic shipments)
At the Customer Service department, she was responsible for tracing lost or delayed shipments, answering phones and adhering to the three ring directive, answering queries, solving client problems, organise International and Domestic collections, among others.
As the Sales Executive at DHL, she sold company services to clients, opening accounts, negotiating contracts. Setlalekgosi was charged with the role to expand DHL domestic network.
At Avis Car Rentals between 1981-1984, Setlalekgosi was Sales Executive. As Rental Sales Agent, she administered the actual rental to clients, filing of booked rentals, daily banking, and end of day business report.
She recoils: “Every morning I was responsible for checking conditions of cars, administering insurance claims in the vent of accidents”.
Setlalekgosi, now in her 50s, is profoundly passionate about the welfare of women in general. She contends that they are the chosen age group who prepare the arrival of the next generation hence they should always assume their rightful role in all sectors of society.
She looks forward to the time when women will effectively participate in socio-economic affairs of the country, pointing out that they too like their male counterparts, are endowed with the talent to perform wonders.
