Mathilda Motinga – Namibia

Fashion is calling for Matilda Motinga

“Through buying and selling clothes, my life has changed for the better. I am now a breadwinner in my own right!”

Khaibasen Fashion Shop is the name of the business initiated by Mrs Mathilda Motinga. The business is trading as a retail shop selling traditional dresses, materials, bed linen and traditional trousers. It is enjoying both a local and an international market because of its vibrant products. The business is not yet registered but plans are underway to have it registered with the ministry of finance, ministry of trade and industry and social security. This delay was apparently caused by the lack of adequate start-up capital.

The business is located in Berseba Village about 350km from the capital city of Namibia and operates within the central business area to allow ease of access to potential customers and to improve its visibility to the community. Berseba Village town is 39 km south west from the B1 road. The business will eventually promote or market its products by giving out business cards, brochures and media adverts using television, radio and the internet. Mathilda understands the local environment and she has good communication skills with potential customers.

Mathilda says she was lucky to be included in the Gender Links Entrepreneurship Phase 1 and 2 training which taught her a lot about drafting a business plan, budgeting, recording of transactions and basic bookkeeping. She is very grateful that the training Gender Links provided to her for free helped to turn around her business’ fortunes. She started to realise profit and growth exponentially. She says that writing her I story helped to heal the wounds and was very therapeutic psychologically. She says the programme she has been through so far has taught her to be very innovative.

Mathilda is a driver of change in every sense of the word because she is a living example of a mother who is bravely moving on from a chastening background of patriarchy to running a successful business. She is an inspiration to many women in her community and has vowed to preach against gender based violence (GBV) to other women and men. Although she is not highly educated, she intends to conduct market research to see what potential for there is for growth for her business. She is looking forward to employing more women to help her sell merchandise in Berseba town.

Securing registration with the relevant ministries will make it easier for the business to become a legal entity and in this case the business owner has decided that after registering her business she will also seek a reliable insurance company to provide insurance products to the business. The business will have its own lawyer who will deal with all the legal matters and serve in an advisory capacity in other related issues.

Mathilda says her potential customers are community members and can be reached via cell phone or by directly approaching them. She already has a database of potential customers. She has moved from selling her clothes in her house to renting a vending site provided by the council of Berseba. She credits Gender Links for exposing her work to the council and hence enabling her to demand working space from the relevant authorities.