By Neo Kolane
The founder of Eggcelent Chickens, Ntsotiseng Thokoane, has plans to become the second person to produce and supply eggs to the Qacha’s Nek district community.
The 24-year old entrepreneur from Ha Manteko in Qacha’s Nek says she wants to balance the monopoly of the market of producing layers after she realised that there is only person who has chicken layers in the district.
Eggcelent is a layer production business that will be based in Qacha’s Nek and produce eggs specifically for the local communities.
In an interview with theReporter this week, Thokoane said the inspiration to set up the business comes from her own home; her parents reared chickens and each of her siblings had their own chicken to nurture.
She said after she graduated with a market management degree in 2021, she was unemployed for a few months before entering the Basotho Enterprise Development Corporation Business Plan competition and winning the M100 000 seed capital.
“Eggcelent will aim to supply businesses outside the country, especially the nearby South African town of Matateile.
“I will set up the company myself but I will employ some people. For now, I work alone. Once it is firmly established there will be programmes that will warrant the hiring of people.
“I will be employing youth people because they face a lot of unemployment, and women because of their inactiveness in the mainstream economy which mostly favours men over women. So I want to get rid of that imbalance,” Thokoane said.
With this business, Thokoane said her dream is to supply eggs outside the country, given that the government of Lesotho has restricted eggs supply into the country.
Thokoane is very much aware that there are people who have been in the chicken production and supply market for a long time, who do not advertise or engage in any similar activity, thereby making them slack.
She, therefore, believes as a graduate, there are privileges she has attained from school especially in marketing.
She will therefore engage in robust advertising and strategizing which will make her business stand out, compared to the common traditional methods of marketing.
“I will be working at Ha Manteko and I am currently looking for site.
“I am going to buy about 300 -500 layer chickens to start my business,” Thokoane revealed.
Thokoane derived the word Eggcelent from the word excellent which means ‘outstanding’, but gave it a twist
Ntsotiseng Thokoane can be contacted on +266- 6785 9583.
