It’s the last Friday of the month, January the 27th 2017. I walk into the Receiver of Revenue’s office during lunch hour to apply for my tax clearance in pursuit of compliance and starting my business.
I walked in hoping to quickly do what I came to do, but to my unpleasant surprise this was not the case. The room was filled with many people- young and old waiting patiently to be assisted. We all aspired to register our businesses, to comply with the law and hopefully create employment.
At first I was surprised to see so many people ambitious enough to start their own businesses. I was initially scared, but later became proud to see so many Basotho taking initiative to make a difference, especially with the high unemployment rate in the country.
It’s common knowledge that a lot of start ups fail within the first 3 years due to many different reasons. But surprisingly this fact did not deter my excitement. For me this said that Basotho were brave and willing to try- to make an effort! And that was brave.
Although the reality could not be erased, that many of the businesses would fail- I was motivated nonetheless. This also reminded me that the onus was on other stakeholders-private sector, tertiary institutions and government to support these businesses, provide training and an ecosystem that would reduce the number of start ups failing.
A lot of work is still required to change the current situation and mindsets, but for me it is better to try and fail. To try again until you become better.
Hours later, still stuck in the long que, I remain hopeful- motivated by the contribution we need to make entrepreneurship flourish in the mountain kingdom.
I will admit that we need to impart a lot of skills – financial skills, customer service, selling skills and how to grow businesses etc to see this dream become a reality; but collectively we can achieve this.
So if you are an aspiring entrepreneur, I challenge you to go out and register your business. Learn as much as you can every day, fail, make mistakes and learn from them. We only have one shot at life- make your business a success.
Dare to live…
