Ntuluki proudly presents "clean clean" carwash in Borolong

PINI BOTHOKO
Correspondent | Monday August 13, 2012 00:00

No one thrust this greatness upon him and he was not born great. He is busy constructing a road to greatness with a car wash and as a vegetable vendor in the village. Actually, the father of one, who is a bachelor, Ntuluki said after it dawned on him that he was not going to get employed by anyone, he took it as a challenge that needed to be confronted head on.  With the initial help of the Gachala family in Borolong, Mmoloki and his wife Mercy, who bought him a hoover, car wash net, gum poles and other small car cleaning equipment, he was off to a roaring start just two months ago.

He said that he bought himself a generator to establish the car wash, which is now the talk of the village.  Ntuluki is the proud owner of a fully registered 'Clean Clean Car Wash' which, on entering Borolong from Francistown by a popular pub, 'Save Mor', is emblazoned in big letters on a billboard by the roadside. Together with the vegetable vendor, the carwash is presently putting food on the table for him and his child who is in Standard Three. But in the two months he has been at it, with the profit that he is raking in, he already fancies himself the village tycoon.  The car wash also has a vegetable market and both of his businesses are registered.  'I clean a car for P30, truck for P150, big carpets for P120, medium size P60 and couch for P400 whilst in my vegetable market I sell fruits and vegetables and cigarettes, ' he said.

He said that his vegetables, rape and spinach, are also selling because they are fresh from his backyard garden nearby. He sells fresh tomatoes and onions from Legola Farms with a reasonable price. 'I am making brisk business with my vegetables because nowadays people like to eat vegetables as recommended by doctors,' said Ntuluki.He is also an employer with four carwash attendants that he has taken from the streets to help them make a living. He generously shares the profits with them, though he could only smile when asked to reveal figures.

He said that he decided to start a carwash in Borolong because the village is growing at a fast rate and is situated few kilometres from the hustle and bustle of Francistown.'I have observed that people have been migrating in high numbers from the city to rent houses in the village and most of them own cars.  'Recently the village has been inundated with people working at Matsitama Copper and Tati Nickel Mines and most of them have cars and it is what motivated my idea, ' said Ntuluki.As a breadwinner, Ntuluki has to fend for his one Standard Three son, four nephews, and his mother.  He said in Borolong there is no competition as compared to Francistown where there are many car washes.

'During busy days, there is so much commotion in the city some of the city dwellers would rather choose to come here where we wash their cars while they unwind in the serenity and calm of the village. 'I'm bringing services to the residents of my village and my services are of high quality. My customers can even leave their cars after washing and go as far as Francistown and collect them later on. The security that I provide here is of high quality, ' he said.Waxing lyrical about his carwash he had this to say: 'Weekends are the best days of my business.  I can spend the whole day busy and this gets worse when it is month-end as I can have up to 13 cars in a day. On weekdays I can have three to four cars, which is something. 'Today (last Saturday), was one of the busy days because I had 15 cars to wash, ' he said smiling. He said he is marketing himself easily because he is next to Francistown-Orapa main road thus making him easily recognised especially with a billboard.

'My carwash is clean. People like cleanliness. I have flowerpots to decorate the place and I have dustbins which my customers throw litter in. The council collects it (waste) once a week, my carwash also has enough parking space and usually my customers can chill while waiting for their cars ' he said.  He said even though the car wash is successful there are challenges.'The main challenge here is water as the village can last up to a week without water and I will be forced to go and fetch at neighbouring villages or in Francistown, said Ntuluki.