Hers are just three products which she manufactures with a stamina of athletes and a patience of saints! They are pimple healing spray, lip-gloss and lip-balm. Taking after her own name, she calls them SOR products.
Her name is Selloane Odi Raleting, the National University of Lesotho (NUL) trained teacher and a self-proclaimed entrepreneurship enthusiast!
First, listen to her motto,” I hustle like a man, because I was told not to depend on one.”
She is a young lady who happens to have fallen in love with business from an incredibly young age. “My parents tell me that I fell for business well before I even knew I existed,” she recalled the secret behind her consuming passion for business.
The passion is in her DNA.
“Here is the story that my parents used to tell me. When I was very young, they owned a shop in which, among other things, they sold what we normally call “eat-some-more” biscuits (Likoankoara).”
And this is the funny part of the story, “at one time, they say, I decided to pick up a few “eat-some-mores” and took them to the people in the village, door-to-door— I did not wait for the people to come to the shop.”
Each eat-some-more sold for 5 cents at the shop. But when she was taking it to the people, she would sell it for 10 cents, making 100% profit! Surprisingly, many people who were lazy to go to the shop found the little baby’s idea handy and they bought her products despite a 100% increase in price!
She would then go back to the shop and pay for the eat-some-mores she first picked on credit, only to go over the process, again and again! “My parents realized from then that their daughter would be an entrepreneur,” she said.
She is!
Later, at around the age of 5, she was already showing more signs of entrepreneurial zeal. Thankfully, she can fully remember this part.
For instance, when she was given M1.00 for lunch at school every day, she would save instead of chowing it up like her peers. That was so she could buy a packet of “light mazimba” (lishoaboshoabo) for selling so she could buy herself some shoes!
One day, after saving and selling, she had enough money to buy the shoes. But a surprise was in store.
As she was about to use the money, it was gone! Apparently, her parents had used the money to take her sick nephew to a doctor. And this is what surprised her parents in this episode—she was not discouraged! So she earned their respect ever since.
Over time, “I tried more businesses,” she said. “However, at some point, I realised that buying and selling was not for me. I just wasn’t passionate about that line of business.”
“I wanted to manufacture.”
She graduated from NUL well aware that she was not the brown-enveloped type; “I love business, I have always loved creating employment for myself and others.” If she is employed at all, she prefers part-time work so she can have time for her business.
Then she left her home in Mafeteng, “to avoid being in a comfort zone,” as she put it, and she went to Teyateyaneng to start a business there.
She registered a business in the name SOR, for Selloane Odi Raleting. Then she started producing and selling lip-balm and lip-gloss. The former is for both men and women and the latter for women only because of colours.
“My lip-balm is meant for those who don’t like conventional lip-balms, it is very moisturizing and long-lasting,” she said.
But another discovery was on the way. “I don’t normally have problems with my skin but for some reason, pimples appeared on my face at one point.”
It was a proverbial “blessing in disguise.”
“I was determined to find a natural solution for the problem. I did a lot of research, made many tests until I came up with a product based on lemon, rose water, essential oils and many other ingredients. It worked perfectly on me.”
This product is called pimple healing spray. It is a natural chemical-free version which is mild on skin but works so well, many buyers like it.
Of course, all this has not been a smooth sailing. “I am still learning how to grow my business but one thing is for sure, I keep moving and I love what I am doing,” she said.
Most importantly, she has these parting words, “I have spent a lot of money in other businesses. This one was remarkably simple to start, I started out of nothing.”
Today’s generation of young entrepreneurs, ladies and gentlemen, is not a generation of whiners. While the much older generation, a generation of tenderprenuers and perdiemprenuers, nearly ignores them, they don’t stop and complain.
Rather, here they are, constructing an industrial base from scratch—all by themselves! It is the most amazing thing unfolding in this country today!
Catch her here if you want to buy or distribute her products: +266 59688154, +266 68381544, whatsapp +266 53626969 or facebook Grace twina rabeer or Twinah Raleting or email chinotwinah@gmail.com