Budding businesswoman praises poverty eradication programme

Unemployed and poor until recently, Mosetlha produces fruit juice from her house at Botshabelo and the business is already enjoying considerable support from local shops and individuals. "While riding in a commuter combi last year, I overheard some women talking about social welfare programmes that I was not aware of," she told Mmegi this week."The following week I went straight to the Social and Community Development offices to enquire."

Mosetlha said the office was impressed with her unique business idea, especially when she presented a certificate she had obtained after training in juice making and bookkeeping from Tshweneng Creative Technologies in Gaborone.She said she was asked to look for quotations for all the equipment she would need to run her business, which she did promptly. "Council officials assisted me patiently and wholeheartedly," she said. "At the end of February this year, they called me to say I had been funded."