By Kefiloe Kajane
This week a local bank Standard Lesotho Bank hosted a women entrepreneurship virtual conference.
This is where women in business were sharing advises on how they navigated business during Covid-19 pandemic which was the theme of the conference.
The speakers of the conference were sharing with the participants the challenges they faced while running their various businesses in the face of Covid-19 and how they managed to overcome them.
Speaking at the conference a business woman and guest houses owner Mamothe Mohapi, said being in a hospitality sector was challenging as it was shut down during the lockdown. She said that taught her not to focus only on one sector in business because when her business shut down, there was no income coming in.
“We are affected the most as the hospitality sector because we depend mostly on working class. Right now our halls are empty because now everything is hosted virtually which was not the case before Covid-19. Meetings and conferences were hosted at guest houses. Also we are considered now by banks as a high risk whenever we want to get money to revamp our business. Covid-19 has really killed us,” she said.
Another speaker entrepreneur and founder of cleaning company Dust Busters Paballo Mokoqo, expressed that as the cleaning industry they were affected by the pandemic but later opportunities came once people were regarding the pandemic as new normal.
She indicated that people became more aware of importance of disinfecting, The introduction of personal protective equipment and cleanness kept their trading afloat.
“To other entrepreneurs I can say, opportunities will come. Business is a lifelong learning process. Relevant people are waiting and willing to help should you need help.. It took a lot of work for us to get here but once you have started, things will start looking up. Continue to apply and look for other opportunities,” she said encouraging other entrepreneurs.
Guest speaker, business woman and medical manager and vitality health Dr ‘Masamuel Raleche said health sector was impacted negatively because it was tested a lot as Covid-19 is a new thing and no one knew how to deal with it.
“I remember with us, when we planned the business, I did not have Covid-19 in mind and just after we started then Covid-19 emerged. We realised that we promised people to offer emergency medical services and when we learned that the coronavirus was an emergency,” she said.
The UNDP Lesotho Socio-Economic Assessment 2020 it indicates that prior to Covid-19, the GDP growth rate was projected to decelerate from 1.4 percent in 2019/20 to 0.4 percent in 2020/21. It states that the growth projection was revised downwards in May 2020 to -5.1 percent, in 2020/2110 due to the impact of Covid-19.
