MorataBW

MBW| LOCAL SUCCESS
I started with people that I knew
personally. Those mostly from my
community and they gave me a little to
take home, so I survived.
in his second year at the University
of Pretoria, because he excelled in his
learning programme, secured a job as a
tutor. He did wonders and was ranked
top 100 out of staff compliment of
20 000 tutors, this got him a gig at a
tutoring centre in South Africa called
‘Teach Me Too.’ The centre has branches
in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Mpumalanga
and beyond.
His academic road in South Africa
reached its intended destination where
he graduated with flying colours.
Kgathola came back home, and he was
fastpaced in joining the long and deep
pool of unemployment. That is when he
decided to put his tutor’s hat on.
Kgathola started his business with no
work station and the car that he bought
from his earlier savings was his ‘mobile
office.’
“I started with people that I knew
personally. Those mostly from my
community and they gave me a little to
take home, so I survived,” he said.
The now well-established company
which has a headquarters office boasting
300 tutors, from a small business
ran from a car seat, he came with a
dream to address Botswana’s academic
struggles which have seen the national
pass rates drop across all levels of basic
education. He came, with lions’ claws, to
fight the dire educational scourge with
his experience and expertise.
And he had a business plan. Growing
up, Kgathola was exposed to business as
he sold from the family farm produce,
including sugar cane, spinach, tomatoes
among others. That is where he derived
his resilient business instinct.
Going back to the name of the
brand and the lion’s head on the logo,
Kgathola explained that it started as
an encouragement for his clients, the
students, to show the courage of a
lion. Like lions when in the jungle, his
clientele should get out there, work hard
and be the best that they can become.
‘’A lion is the king of the jungle, it
has strength, focus and pride hence we
want our clientele to exhibit the lion. It
is at the top and does not negotiate its
place. We want our clients to be best,
be the lion and dominate wherever they
are,” Kgathola explains the rules of the
jungle.
Unlike the lion on the logo, Kgathola,
wearing a fresh face, talks with much
diplomacy. He said his business is
customer-centric, clients are his biggest
investors.
Kgathola started his business without
any capital, as he had no financial
assistance. He just started from his
church and community network asking
34 MorataBW March 2021