Two sisters battling the odds :: Mmegi Online

As local women mark Women’s Month, Mmegi’s Gantsi Correspondent, LEINANYANA TSIANE, reports on the lives of two sisters who pioneered the street vendor business in the remote village 20 years ago. Today, the two are reaping the fruits of their efforts

Patience pays and the two women from Tutume in the North East are testimony to that. Kitso and Chinna Phale were among the pioneers of the street vendor business in Gantsi, setting up a stall under a tree near the Post Office in 1995. The duo decided to move from Francistown and settle in Gantsi due to the ‘dog-eat-dog’ competition among vendors in the second city.

Gantsi presented a land of promise in a world devoid of formal employment. “By then Gantsi was not as developed as you see today. There were no taxis to carry our goods from home and it was a real struggle,” recalls Kitso.

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