Advocating for township development

The epitome of black excellence and an advocate for township business development two apt descriptors for business woman and author Bathabile Moreki.

The entrepreneur who champions township development published her book in September 2020 and shares insights on why she prefers small businesses to source money from the bank.

"If you can get money to buy a car from the bank without seeing it as a risk then similarly a business loans should be sought from the bank," she says.

She has also been nominated as one of the 100 Women of Fortitude to advance struggle stalwart, Albertina Sisulu’s legacy, is truly a force to be reckoned with.

Bathabile is the CEO and founder of Nothile Consulting, a consultancy firm that

helps small businesses through mentorship to operate formally. She also gives

mentorship on franchising.

She started her first business in 2013 when she bought into a food chain

franchise, after she was funded by the National Empowerment Fund.

“I learnt from there that there is a vast difference between a franchise and

starting a business from scratch,” she says.

This was in particular because people choose to buy into brands they know.

This is why franchising gives results quicker than starting a completely new

business.

Read more: The sneaker boss lady from Mangaung

“When you want to franchise you’ve got system in place, employees, stock,everything is there. But when I started interacting with other entrepreneurs I learnt that there are challenges with access to market and finance,” she said.

From there Bathabile never looked back and has made it her mission to

mentor township entrepreneurs who want to buy a franchise or grow their

business.

To aid this crusade she launched the Township Economic Transformation

initiative, which continues to empower many.

“With this initiative I am trying to say let’s adopt this (the franchise) model for

our businesses so that they can grow,” says the woman who is also a youth

ambassador for the National Development Plan (NDP) which has set a target of

11 million jobs by 2030.

She believes that there is neglected business potential in the township.

“There is potential market in the township but I feel like we neglect it, so I

decided to help township entrepreneurs.

Article written by Dikeledi Molobela