Tjiangerao Oases – Namibia

Erwiana salon provides me with a livelihood

“This business helps me buy bread for my children”

Tjiangerao Oases is a single mother of two children and she runs a mini nail decoration salon in Grootfontein. She is pleased that she owns this type of business because she is unemployed and this business is her only source of income. She says her business helps her a lot because she is able to support and feed her children without begging from people. She says she prefers to operate from home because she gets more customers and her potential customers are the young women residing in Bliksdorp. She regards her business as profitable even though only a few customers come to visit the business.

She feels that her business does not benefit her alone but it also benefits the community since it serves the poor who cannot afford to pay the costs at well-established salons. She says her business changed her life because she is now independent and she can afford to feed her children and send them to school. She says she is in control of her business and she sees potential for growth. She claims that her dedication and creativity help her a lot the time because she never studied nail therapy, but her inner ability directed her as to how to do her job.

Tjiangerao confirms that Gender Links played a very crucial role in teaching her very important aspects of her business such as the budgeting, planning and marketing of her services. She says she does not offer her services at credit and those who want her services should pay cash. She markets her products by sending messages to the young women in the community and through the radio and she approaches other people during church services and community meetings.

She says she sometimes conducts mobile services to meet customers half way, especially those without transport. She hopes that her business will address the needs of her customers irrespective of their disadvantages. She grew up in Grootfontein and she understands the needs of the people.

Her business is not yet registered but she is in the process of registering it with the ministry of finance, the ministry of trade and industry and the social security commission. She will market her business and ensure that more customers come forward to support the business. She believes that she is capable of managing business strategies since she possesses good communication skills.

Tjiangerao says she was blessed to be included in the entrepreneurship programme since she was taught how to draw up a business plan as well as budgeting, stock control and basic bookkeeping. She is very grateful because the training helped her to become skilled in many aspects of the business and as a result her business yields a good profit. She says the programme made her forget the violence she had been through and intends to continue encouraging others to become self-reliant.

This businesswoman is a driver of change because she has set an example of a woman who had lived through gender based violence to become a successful entrepreneur in the community. She remains an inspiration to many young women of her age in the community.

Tjiangerao says she is planning to diversify by establishing a grocery shop because she sees that people have different needs and she has noticed that shops are located far away from their locations. For this reason she wants to bring some of these services closer to the people at very affordable prices.

She acknowledges that her most memorable experience was when she travelled to Windhoek to attend the national summit in Namibia and she is waiting to be invited again next year because it was wonderful and she met a lot of people.