A Taste of Success With Biltong
Cavin Kanoko | Monday October 26, 2020 15:59
Aged 26-years old, Modo, who also goes by the stage name Rittah, is an IT graduate from Botho University. She is currently on government internship.
Modo Bites supplies beef biltong to other businesses around Gaborone and is growing with the proposed introduction of donkey biltong and dried boerewors in the near future.
Modo told BusinessMonitor she started the company at the beginning of the year without any machines to use.
“I had to use my mentor’s equipment to make the biltong.
“The business was financed from my pocket and I was buying the meat for P200 because my initial target market was colleagues in the workplace.
“I later expanded and bought my own machines to cater for the growing customer base.”
Modo explained that currently Modo Bites is operating from her home in Tlokweng, where the biltong-making machines are located. From there, she delivers the product to customers.
The company’s customers are those that buy in bulk to sell and individuals who purchase sachets to nibble.
Modo’s products have received approval from ever- increasing customers Who could not help complimenting her for the taste and quality of the biltong.
She even receives special orders from her customers like those who prefer less salt or more chilli in their biltong.
However, Modo Bites was not spared the impact of COVID-19, the young entrepreneur said regretfully.
“Sales went down during the lockdown because I was unable to supply those who buy to sell.
“But now that it has been lifted, things are slowly getting back to normal and I am slowly starting to get orders for my products.”
Modo said her dream was to grow the company’s reach into the market and be able to supply big shops, filling stations and bars with the ambrosial biltong.
“I would advise young entrepreneurs to dive into the deep because planning to start a business can take a long time, but once one starts taking risks to start, this creates momentum for the entrepreneur,” she said.
“I actually dislike procrastination because it prevented me from starting the business a long time ago.
“I ended up starting this year when I met with someone who introduced me to the business and mentored me until I was able to do everything on my own.”