Two Batswana open Lobatse's first Pick 'n Pay franchise

TUMELO SETSHOGO
Correspondent | Thursday July 30, 2009 00:00

Bakang Modise and Kagiso Mongwaketse acted after they saw an advert from Pick 'n Pay stating that the retail giant was looking for potential Batswana franchisees.

'We prepared a business plan and were invited to South Africa to see how other franchisees were doing in the retail sector,' Mongwaketse said. Encouraged by what they saw in South Africa, 'we told ourselves that we would take the retail group in Botswana to greater heights.'

In 2007, Pick 'n Pay announced its plan to convert a large number of its Score stores in Botswana and South Africa into Pick 'n Pay Family Stores, to create over 70 new black entrepreneurs and double the number of employees in each store. The retail group's Emerging Markets division is focusing on developing and growing the entrepreneurs.

At a media briefing to announce the partnership at the Gaborone Sun this week, the Director of Pick 'n Pay in Botswana, Mahesh Patel, narrated how the two young entrepreneurs came on board. He said the company put together a unique business plan for Batswana to run Pick 'n Pay stores as franchisees.

Patel said Modise and Mongwaketse were among many applicants and that their experience in the retail sector helped to secure them the group's franchise. Modise is a graduate of Rhodes University in South Africa with a degree in organisational psychology (human resources) and international relations. He worked as a trainee manager for a retail supermarket in Lobatse in 2008.

Mongwaketse's business career in the retail industry began when he started several small companies selling golf shirts promoting FMCG goods. He was also involved in free enterprise organisations running training and communications forums for small and medium sized businesses, especially for young people, among other things. The Witwatersrand University property development graduate said he was inspired and encouraged by southern Africa's business brains, he said, referring to Pick 'n Pay chairman and founder Raymond Ackerman and Black Like Me founder Herman Mashaba.

The franchisees, who met during their school days, say they will ensure that Pick 'n Pay in Lobatse performs to its best by providing quality service and fresh products. Modise and Mongwaketse say they are disturbed by the relocation of companies from Lobatse to Gaborone and South Africa because this leaves behind skilled people without jobs. They have increased their staff complement to raise the standard of service delivery and create employment.

Farmers in and around Lobatse will also benefit by selling fresh produce to the store, the two franchisees told the media briefing. Pick 'n Pay's Emerging Markets manager, Stuart Duffield said South Africa now has 11 Score stores in the hands of Blacks. Three more Score stores are up for conversion later this year in Botswana.