Thirty-six-year-old Bathabile Moreki is a multi-awardwinning entrepreneur and philanthropist who hasdedicated her life to helping youth and women to achieve their business dreams. In August, the young social entrepreneur was honoured as Community Heroine at the Gauteng Provincial Legislature’s 5thannual Vita Basadi Awards. Moreki has recently established a consortium, Township Economic Transformation in Franchise Eco-System (Tetfe) that helps to open access to township based manufactures to have access to the market, funding and job creation for township youth. Through collaboration with Nedbank Business, StartUp Grind and Google for Entrepreneurs,Moreki has mentored over 800 youth entrepreneurs. Moreki is one of the NDP Youth Ambassadors, Proudly SA member, and University of Johannesburg Research Associate and she shares her entrepreneurial journey with us.
When did you establish Tetfe?
We officially registered in July 2017, however, the research and development commenced from 2015.
What inspired the establishment of the organisation and what are your highlights so far?
We established the organisation to assist other entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs especially in the townships who were not fortunate to have access toinformation and resources I was privileged to obtain when I started my business in 2013 which was funded by NEF as well as when I expanded the business in 2015 through a commercial bank. I have received so much support and training from the entities. I managed to access funding, marketing and different trainings to equip me to run a thriving business. Not so many entrepreneurs have managed to obtain the same resources. The highlight is sharing the information with entrepreneurs who take the notes and advice I share and get the opportunity to access funding and trainings – Mr Xolisile Qwesha of Ilaphi Creations was awarded R50 000 grant for his businesses and given training by Business Arts South Africa, Jane Matea of PhenyozaPoultry Farm obtained funding from the NYDA.
What challenges are you facing as an entrepreneur and how do you overcome them?
Lack of resources in the townships to enable me to support more entrepreneurs is one of my biggest challenges. Many young entrepreneurs can’t even email me as data is not easily accessible to them. Our community libraries are not fully functioning, not all schools have computers and internet connection to allow the youth to access them. We are however notdiscouraged in our pursuit to positively impact lives andwe continuously find ways to be of help to as many young entrepreneurs as possible.
Do you feel enough is done to empower entrepreneurs in the manufacturing sector?
If not, what do you think can be done to make manufacturing entrepreneurship a more accessible career option?
Not much is done. Information about getting started in manufacturing is not easily available. The institutions that assist with compliance are very costly for entrepreneurs to afford e.g. SABS approvals.
How many people do you employ?
I’m the only employee in the company. The model of the programme is designed to help the youth to start businesses and create eco-system, therefore Ioutsource the work to other SMME’s that I mentor andsupport in different ways e.g Ndisa Graphic Design Business Solutions, Turnup Pin, Matsobanemetja Bookkeeping, GOAT Creative Solutions, etc.
What is your role as an NDP Youth Ambassador?
My role is to motivate and share the knowledge from our different businesses and skills with other young people to enable them to also look into entrepreneurship and education as means to make their lives better.
