Africa-Press – Lesotho. From manufacturing to agriculture, or in this case from agriculture to manufacturing… both ways Lielelo Lenkoane of Ha-Shepheseli, Leribe is a 47 year old farmer, who sees her farming to the end by rearing and
packaging chickens, processing meat into sausages and fruit into juice. Her brand is L and M sausages. It is composed of 5 youth with ages between 25 and
30. Lenkoane owns and maintains 10 pigs and over 100 chickens, and has since dedicated to earnings from the domestic farm through both
individual and corporate organizations’ sales extending to Butha – Buthe and surrounding accessible areas, for a year now. “I had closed and stopped operations during the lockdown.
Borders were closed meaning as a small business I could not access raw materials from across the border,” The brand prides itself in the full proportioned protein in
the final product, beyond that she says “our product is affordable. It caters for our market, more so because it can be consumed by any and every one”.
Although Lenkoane refers to her brand as a thriving start up, she is confident that her organization can deliver in collaborations with long standing farmers, “this business has given me a bigger space to
participate in. Today, I am able to feed my family and children, even my colleagues are able to provide for their families. ” Lenkoane has 5 team members
whose average age is 27. Through her, her colleagues are part of an organization known as Rural Women Assembly (RWA), a local organization based in Leribe whose
mandate is to protect women’s rights and help impart financial growth education. Being based in the Butha – Buthe district, she admits to importing part of raw materials in SA while the main component of the final
product is outsourced from Basotho farmers being beef and chicken. Her frequency in South Africa owes also to the need for mentorship, “I made attempts to create a network of relevant minds and experts for the betterment
of my skills but in vain. However now that I am part of Rural Women Assembly, I have such relations with experts in fields such as marketing and food and
preparations hygiene. ” Lenkoane went into business because she needed a job, “but I wanted to be independent,” she goes on to explain that she was more motivated
as she would then be part of private sector players helping the country’s economy at large”. She says starting her business did not come easy owing to
the lack of information she continues to experience to date. While she admits that she is now stable and able to deliver consistently as and when needed by
both new and incoming clients, she says there are challenges that she cannot rise beyond as yet, “policies in my field of work do not necessarily facilitate
our growth. We do not have any laws that protect the continuity of operations in that although we are producing and delivering, similar products are imported
daily, and they are not regulated,” In her conclusion, Lenkoane says her greatest concern is lawful operating standards on safety and hygiene, which compromise start up brands. “They are hefty and ideal for bigger and more established brands in this industry.”
For More News And Analysis About Lesotho Follow Africa-Press
