Consortium penetrates cleaning chemicals business
Lesedi Mkhutshwa | Monday February 13, 2017 15:54
Trading under the name Elite Chemicals (PTY) Ltd, the business manufactures and supplies cleaning chemicals and offers broad spectrum of other products.
The business is located at the Francistown Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) incubators Unit G2.
In an interview with Business Monitor, Managing Director, Unami Shagwa (50) said that they are a manufacturing company, which is able to take care of all of their corporate and personal needs.
“Elite Chemicals is a one stop shop, whose products and services are available to direct corporate users throughout Botswana,” she said. Shagwa said that their business offers products such as liquid soap, multi-purpose cleaner, liquid hand soap, blue soap detergent, carpet shampoo, fabric softener, handy andy, air freshener to mention just a few. She noted that their business started operating at a residential house in the Gerald Estates location in 2015.
“We started operating the business at home because we couldn’t afford to pay rent due to lack of capital,” she said.
Shagwa indicated that they were prompted by the opportunity in the local market of processing cleaning chemicals to start up the business. “After a short period of time, we applied for funding through the Gender Affairs Women Empowerment funding schemes,” she added. The entrepreneur added that God answered their prayers and after a few months they received funding from the Department of Gender Affairs to the tune of P272,000, which boosted their business.She added that the organisation is managed by members with extensive experience in cleaning chemical manufacturing.
“For instance, I gained experienced from my previous employers. I worked for Amber Chemicals for 12 years from 1998 to 2012 and moved to Zila Investments from 2013 to 2014,” she added.
Shagwa disclosed that her partners are Esnath Mafale, Pretty Moleele, Gaolapelwe Bulayani and Elizabeth Mmosi.
“We are an ever-learning organisation that embraces new challenges everyday. We are committed to excellence and dedication in meeting and exceeding the expectations of our customers to ensure that our customers are satisfied,” she said.
She revealed that they purchase their products from South Africa Cure Chem, which specialises in cleaning chemicals.
She further said that their target is to achieve excellence everyday and they aim to discover new and innovative ways to broaden their business to improve productivity. The ambitious businesswoman said that their intention is to make over two million Pula a year by 2020.
“Our revenue for the month of December was P34,000, which shows that the business is flourishing.
We want to increase our manpower by employing youth so that we can reach our aim in three years to come,” she said. She added that they want to reach their goal of empowering women in the country.”