Masego David

I am a 38 year old woman from Bobonong. It was in 2014 when I first attended the Gender Links training. This was at a time when I had experienced abuse from my family members. We were taught about different forms of abuse and how we could deal with them. I opted to seek help from my church which made a difference. I attended the following session which now enlightened me more on business.

It is during these trainings that I started learning about the types of businesses. I also learnt how to come up with my own business plan how to identify the market gap. With the knowledge I had gained I approached the social welfare office, who came and did an assessment at my place and I was assisted to start my business. I still continued with the other lessons as I saw them as being important in helping me manage my business. It was easy for me to know what I had to do in order to make profit such as marketing my products.
To me all the lessons given were very important. I struggled with the cash flow planning as it involved making estimations and projecting your profit and your losses. I went to Stanbic Bank and asked for help since they did accounts. When I first came into contact with GL I had no clue about business and now I have been trained on having my own Tyre services business and I am waiting for equipment from council. This is a good business that is mostly male dominated.
I know teach others not to rely on council only but also explore other avenues to fund raise and start businesses. I have learnt that I should never give up as long as I have hands there is something that I can do to make ends meet. I would like people to understand that business is like a child it needs to be taken care of, given love and respect. It is vital to keep records and take stock regularly.
In 2030 I want my tyre business to be hiring many young women and men who are unemployed in my village. I want to be able to use some of the profit from the business to support my family.