Salavo Ventures Going Places

Baboki Kayawe
Staff Writer | Monday February 1, 2010 00:00

Two high school friends, Kagiso Gasennelwe and Leruri Mooki have had an undying hunger not to be employees after school; a product of that zealousness is Salavo Ventures.

Registered in 2008, it is a business facilitation company. At the core of its services is project development. Upon getting a client brief, Salova researches on how best to offer a solution. 

' From the client brief we work on formulating the documentation, action plan and financial viability,' Gasennelwe says.

He goes on to say, once the assessment has been made, they present it to the client with the best way forward. The venture also helps in capital raising if the client requires.

They do not do this without the expertise of the clients' business circle. Mooki says with assistance from dedicated professionals, they draw up the necessary documentation and make presentations to investors and financial institutions.

'Our financial model is tailored in a way that expertise is outsourced from people who are well knowledgeable in the line of business that we would be dealing with,' Mooki says.

The other service that Salavo Ventures offers to clients on request as well, is project management. 'We don't take business from the client,' adds Gasennelwe. 

This, he says assists in project implementation and ensures that the set plan is adhered to until it is launched.

'The service involved continues reporting on progress made, monitoring and management of timeliness and resources up until the project is successfully launched,' reads the Salavo website.

Initially their focus was on offering the service to the youth, however lack of commitment and determination by many young people led to the venture switching its clientele to government, venture partners and investors.

'It does not help investing time and energy into a business concept which lacks devotion by the owner,' Mooki says.

He says the youth are very impatient, and always after immediate returns. He notes that there are many people who are willing to invest in the youth, but without commitment and passion, opportunities will continue eluding them.

For his part, Gasennelwe says while the rest of the world sees Botswana as the best place to invest in, locals do not see it.

'As long as we don't make anything for ourselves, there is an opportunity,' he says. 
However, theirs was not smooth sailing.

 They confronted a number of challenges, Mooki laments that whilst youth empowerment continues to be the national anthem, some implementation of empowerment initiative geared towards the youth is not enabling.

He says a number of their business initiatives have been turned down, as they were labeled 'too big' 'Numerous government officials, who oversee implementation of such initiatives, have shut doors in our faces a number of times.

Batswana ba a tswana, Batswana don't support one another,' adds Gasennelwe, 'and if this mentality does not come to an end, Batswana will one day wake up, and their country will not belong to them'. 

His advice is that with an uneven playing field, young people have to be tenacious and should not give up easily.

Mooki and Gasennelwe are 28 and 25 years of age respectively. They attribute the existence of Salavo Ventures to family support and their undying commitment. Asked what their ultimate dream for the business is for the next five years, Mooki simply says, 'You will see; you cannot build a reputation on what you are going to do.'