By Neo Kolane
Local entrepreneur ‘Malehloa Letsie will be launching a development bank called The Transformation Bank in November 2022, to assist cooperatives and small businesses.
Small businesses are corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships which have fewer employees and/or less annual revenue than a regular-sized business or corporation.
In an interview with theReporter this week, the founder of The Transformation Bank Letsie said she is going to start visiting businesses, especially small ones like Jolly Jaws, Phumzile Delicious Bakes and Wisdom Food Products.
“We are going to find out about each business’ growth, and therefore we will fill the gap of the challenges, depending on what the owner of the business needs.
“We are beginning with small businesses for now because they survive on pocket to mouth and not on collateral.
“Small businesses on the other hand have a potential to grow; they just do not have enough skills,” Letsie explained.
Letsie, who is also the founder of an arts company called Edutain My Africa, disclosed that in exchange for its service to the small businesses, the bank will be receiving an interest so that it grows also.
She explained that the interest rate will be a reasonable one which the owners of the businesses can afford.
A lover of successful women, Letsie made it known that most of the businesses that will need help from the bank should be registered because the bank is willing to assist five small businesses and five cooperatives for three months.
She said that is one of her big projects, following her successful business hangout called Women in Corporate and Entrepreneurship which she hosted on Sunday this past weekend.
She said small business owners had attended the business hangout and said it was a successful event because of the knowledge that was shared and the activities at the event.
“The business hangout made a huge impact and we are hoping that the business owners will follow through with the implementation,” Letsie said.
According to smallbusiness.chron.com, small businesses are important because they provide opportunities for entrepreneurs and create meaningful jobs with greater job satisfaction than positions with larger, traditional companies. They foster local economies, keeping money close to home and supporting neighborhoods and communities.
They are integral parts of local economies, helping to create webs of financial interdependence that foster broad-based prosperity. When you spend money at a privately owned local store, that money goes to pay a worker in your neighborhood, who, in turn, is likely to spend money at another neighborhood business. The more that small businesses leverage their potential to support each other, the greater their capacity to create a thriving local business community.
This mutual support is also useful during hard times. If a local business is struggling, community members can bond together to help the struggling business get back on its feet through crowd-funding campaigns or old-fashioned word of mouth pleas. It is difficult to imagine a large corporation generating this type of energy and support.
‘Malehloa Letsie can be contacted on +266 5890 9406
