Africa-Press – Lesotho. Growing up, Tšepiso Lesenyeho struggled to choose a career path. Her academic qualifications bear testimony. Well travelled around the world, Lesenyeho holds a diploma in beauty therapy obtained from Sandy Roy Beauty Therapy Institute and another in Transportation Management from the University of Johannesburg.
“I never had quite a particular career path that I aspired to follow from a young age.
Other children had their dream jobs, for me I don’t even remember what job I wanted to do as a child,” the 33-year old she told thepost. But she had a hint business could be her thing.
“Both my grandmothers were entrepreneurs, maybe that’s where I got the passion to be in business rather than to be employed,” said Lesenyeho, who was raised in different parts of the world but wants to settle and become a successful businesswoman in Lesotho.
So in August 2013 she registered her company with the intention of producing toilet paper. But it was only in February 2020 as Covid-19 hit the world that the business started operating and Boemo toilet paper hit the market.
“That’s how long I have always wanted to get into toilet paper manufacturing but I never had the funds to start.
” She said Boemo can mean a lot of things.
“For the brand it’s based on a variety of toilet paper products we offer. In this case it therefore refers to the quality of our range of toilet paper products and the uplifting of human social standards”. The company currently employs two full-time staff and two part time employees.
“This business exists to address the gap identified within the manufacturing industry, and also contributes towards the eradication of poverty through the creation of jobs as well as making a necessary contribution towards a self-sufficient Lesotho and the boosting of the country’s economic growth,” Lesenyeho said.
Apart from toilet paper manufacturing, the company is also a reseller of other paper products that include serviettes, garage rolls, kitchen towels, bathroom hand towels.
She views the success of malls and other shopping centres in Lesotho as a demonstration of the growing purchasing power of Basotho. “This new positive paradigm of increased consumption requires a balance of increased industrialisation or manufacturing to balance the demand and supply curve.
That’s why Boemo was conceived. ” She said she identified toilet paper manufacturing as one of “the low hanging fruits”. Notwithstanding the large capital intensiveness, “the technology is not that complex and the requisite skills are available within the local market.
Another driving force, she said, was the need “to decrease the importing of substandard and low quality products flooding the country brought in by foreign, which in return can result in harmful health hazards to Basotho.
” She said the aim is to establish a highly profitable company through forging cooperation between the formal and informal business sector.
“We have a clearly defined approach in terms of our supply/value chain and our strategy begins with acknowledgement of the internal and external capabilities and limitations.
” The company has partnered Basotho hawkers and entrepreneurs who play a critical role in the supply chain.
“They are our frontline. They sell and supply to our end users,” she said.
However, she said owing to Covid-19, they experienced “strategic disruption” which forced the company” to establish a radical organisational realignment”.
She said the lack of appreciation of hawkers by businesses has presented an opportunity for her company. “We will continue to investigate relevant hybrid business models that embrace the concept of these collaborative innovations.
She said organisations such as the Lesotho National Development Corporation (LNDC), Basotho Enterprise Development Corporation (BEDCO) together with the Ministry of Trade and Industry are also strategic for such an alliance.
However, she said lack of political, social and economic will to support local emerging businesses “is killing small entrepreneurs”. “Utter lack of regulations gives room for foreign products to flood the local market. The country has become a dumping site for sub-standard products to an extent that discourages locals from starting new businesses.
Saturating the market with foreign products becomes a constraint to emerging businesses,” said Lesenyeho, who aims to occupy at least 50 percent of the market share and expand into all districts of Lesotho within the next 3–5 years.
For that to happen, she needs support. “Boemo is not immune to the prevalent shortage of financial support,” she said. “We are hoping to obtain support from large corporations such as the banks, telecommunication companies, mines, educational institutions, retail stores, government, and parastatals.
“We believe that our business strategy combined with the envisioned government local enterprise protection policy shall open up the market for local producers,” she said, oozing confidence.
She said she envisages a Lesotho where local products obtain preference and protection. “We foresee better growth and an emergence of several other local competitors, which shall in turn assist Boemo to never be complacent and to continuously refine and improve.
For a company that opened its doors right at the beginning of the pandemic and has to source raw materials from South Africa, the journey has not been rosy.
Battling the effects of the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions such as border closures has been a constant feature “since we opened”. She recalled being blocked from travelling to South Africa by authorities at the Maseru Border during the lockdown.
“I was told toilet paper is not an essential need. I have not recovered from that disappointment. ” But that is not stopping her vision. “We have to make it against all odds,” she said.
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