Africa-Press – Lesotho. BOKANG Matlosa’s new fizzy drinks, branded Tholoana, have just been tested at the National University of Lesotho (NUL) for suitability to be consumed.
Matlosa is well known for her high-end syrup brand, necta. Her fizzy drinks factory located in Teya-Teyaneng has a capacity to produce more than 5000 Litres of the product.
“With this brand, I am hoping to challenge the best,” Matlosa says. She is part of the NUL Innovation Hub. She may be just a young lady but she certainly dreams big. “This one is branded Tholoana (a seed).
A seed that represents opportunity for change, new beginnings and new hope,” she said. “Tholoana is the first Lesotho soft drinks, manufactured and owned by a Mosotho woman.
Even though she was pushing necta, she was already nursing other ambitions.
“You see, the challenge with necta is that it is a high-end product,” she said.
“That being the case, it is a bit costly to produce and market. I had to spend a lot of fortune for every marketing episode. ” Also, unlike soft drinks, syrups always have to be diluted with other liquids before drinking.
Therefore, they are a bit of a headache to the kind of market we have in Lesotho— the local market likes to take the ready-to-drinks. One day an idea popped up in her mind.
She needed to explore soft drinks. “I just wanted to explore a business that would bring a bit of cash so that I could even use it to fund the syrup business,” she explained her moves.
She shared her ambitions with her distributor. Her distributor would later link her to a company that makes plastic bottles in Lesotho. Her contact with that company brought her some unexpected news.
She could contact someone who would sell her a fizzy drink plant. Well, she knew from the start that would be an expensive adventure. However, just seeing the plant wouldn’t hurt.
So she moved with her mom to check on the plant. Needless to say, they were impressed. “I saw endless opportunities,” she said. Then came the hard part.
How, on earth, would she acquire such a plant?
She appealed to her family and they bought into her idea, in fact the family took the biggest bill. They funded her dream and she purchased the plant.
Her parents had faith in their daughter’s dream. Now, people with an inch of experience in manufacturing will always tell you this one thing. Having a manufacturing plant is one third of the story.
Getting a good product out of that plant is another third and more importantly, keeping the plant running is the last third. “You really have to master all the three in equal measure to make it,” said one experienced innovator.
So how would she get the right product?
She might have had some experience in developing her own syrup but fizzy drinks are a different animal altogether.
That’s why she came to a conclusion. “I wouldn’t rely on myself for this one. ”
She would find herself as far as Johannesburg in search for experts. Even with the help of experts, the right taste didn’t come easy.
It was weeks and weeks of trying. Over time, her, family and friends were happy. The taste was good. You will recall there are no rules for taste, but when the taste is good, we all know it.
At last, the right recipes were at hand. As we talk, we are at the point where she has started producing. That too didn’t come easy. She had to understand the entire plant.
She had to assemble a team of dedicated employees which she did. Now she has five permanent staff members and a couple of casual workers who come as needed.
She had to develop a business case. She had to find market in Teya-Teyaneng and places around it. Her products have now crossed the boundaries into Mapoteng and Maputsoe.
Too much work for the young lady but with all the help and assistance she is getting, she is more than determined to make it. She sees her Lesotho brand rivaling the big names one day.
“One of the things I’ve learned as I was doing research is that Lesotho is spending billions of money just to quench its thirst with soft-drinks.
A huge bulk of that money, we all know, ends up going down the drain into other countries.
It’s only a week or so since she started but there is so much interest in her product already. There are only two barriers remaining. She needs to expand the market. And she needs to produce at full capacity at some point.
For More News And Analysis About Lesotho Follow Africa-Press
