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“My life has really changed, so much so that I am able to encourage other women to change their lives. I have been sharing the knowledge I gained from Gender Links about business plans and how they work with the women from the community. With this knowledge I was encouraged to go out there and ask for funds from the government to start my business. I have gained high self-esteem and that makes me believe in everything I do” says Olebile Moesi from Serowe in Botswana.
“When I started the entrepreneurship training I had a business, it was a small table selling sweets, airtime and chips and also selling to other small hawkers. I did not take this business seriously because I used the money from this business to pay for small things. After attending the Gender Links training I developed a passion for this business so much so that I decided to take my business seriously. I saved all the income generated and I kept business records. Now my business has grown in that I have added more items to my stock. I am making a better profit than I was and I managed to buy a good, strong table and an umbrella to protect my goods from the sun. I have also managed to open a bank account for the business and am in the process of registering my business,” she explains.
Her life has changed as she is no longer in an abusive relationship. She has learned a lot from the entrepreneurship training: that it is not the end of her life and she can live a better life if she does not allow herself to be abused. She now makes her own money and id able to support her family and they live happily. She has learnt a lot about herself and has discovered her inner capabilities. She has realised that she can support herself financially and that a man is not only the provider. Her family and friends are very happy with her new life. She used to have huge anger, but is now happy. She does not frequently scream at her children and that gives her a chance to bond with them. She has discovered how much older her children are becoming.
Olebile states: “People from my community come to my house for advice. They used to be scared to even greet me, but that has changed. Now I get visitors and have even formed new friendships and that makes life easier because we are able to share the life challenges that we experience. The only challenges that I have with my new life is getting funding to grow my business, but I have submitted my name to government programmes for small business funding. I am very hopeful because last year I talked to them they said that they will soon call me to start training and once I pass the training I will receive funding. Training is done to give a person ideas about how to run a business. Other challenges are weather conditions like rain and wind as I am then forced to stay at home, but since I am patient I just sell from my home.”
Once she gets funding she is convinced that she will slowly grow her business and in five years will have opened a shop. Being a business woman requires determination and commitment. She is very grateful to Gender Links for such blessings and wishes the organisation the best in its attempts to change people’s lives.
📝Read the emotional article by @nokwe_mnomiya, with a personal plea: 🇿🇦Breaking the cycle of violence!https://t.co/6kPcu2Whwm pic.twitter.com/d60tsBqJwx
— Gender Links (@GenderLinks) December 17, 2024
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