Nkuatsana will now represent Lesotho at the Africa Business Banking Awards in Kenya
Silence Charumbira
MASERU, Lesotho – Mamello School and Special Needs Centre proprietor, Kefuoe Nkuatsana, was on Tuesday crowned the winner of the 2024 edition of the Standard Lesotho Bank Scaled-Up Pitching Den competition in Maseru.
Read more about the Scaled-Up Pitching Den
Nkuatsana beat seven other younger entrepreneurs with a concise pitch that won the hearts of the adjudicators and online viewers who were following the event on Facebook.
Among other factors that included clarity of vision, research and bankability, her confidence from the time she started her pitch until she answered questions from the adjudicators and guests, Nkuatsana proved to have done her homework.
Nkuatsana attributes her success to passion
Soon after the event, Nkuatsana told Africa News 24 that her passion for her school won the day.
“I am passionate, and I don’t do anything half-heartedly. That passion is what won me this competition. I worked hard in preparing for the contest and I am glad that I won,” Nkuatsana said.
Now that she is headed for a continental platform in April, “Africa can expect me to market Lesotho to the fullest”.
Nkuatsana bags M40 000 prize
Her total prize package was worth M40 000 while the second-placed contestant, STKTM Solutions pocketed M10 000 cash and the third-placed contestant, Masia Investment, took home M5 000 cash.
In her motivational speech during the competition, Prestige Furnitures and Sentebale Gap Funeral Services proprietor, Aliciah Motsoane, encouraged the young entrepreneurs to work hard.
She narrated how she started off selling second hand furniture back in 1998, a history that she said she was proud of.
Business luminary encourages Nkuatsana, fellow entrepreneurs to treasure humble beginnings
“I am not ashamed of my humble beginnings. You should not be ashamed because that is your footprint. If you start too big, you risk falling too hard. I started off in a 50 square metre room,” Motsoane said.
Young entrepreneurs must be punctual, diligent, and pay their debts, she said. They must also read motivational books and join different associations and interact with like-minded people.
She said she showered praises on Standard Lesotho Bank whom she said was largely behind her growth.
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Motsoane urged parents to desist from pushing their children to study and focus on job hunting after attaining their qualifications. Instead, parents must encourage their children to create jobs.
A young entrepreneur should be presentable and “speak like a CEO”, she added.
Keketso Makara, Standard Lesotho Bank’s Business and Commercial Banking Head, who spoke on behalf of CEO Anthony Nicolaisen, said their mandate was to ensure that they supported businesses especially the youth who will partner with “all sectors of the economy to make sure the economy thrives”.
He said it was imperative to help diversify the economy through supporting the youth to take over and stimulate the private sector.
Standard Lesotho Bank: Personal banking tailored just for you
Among other things, they expected the entrepreneurs to sell their ideas. He encouraged them to engage the bankers to refine their proposals.
SLB encourages Nkuatsana and fellow contestants to engage bankers to refine business ideas
“Come and sit with our bankers to make sure that your proposals are bankable. Don’t struggle alone for the whole year, I have 23 bankers who can assist you,” Makara said.
He also weighed in on Motsoane’s comments regarding raising children to become entrepreneurs instead of jobseekers.
“Don’t raise your child so that they can work in a business, raise them to build businesses,” Makara said.
He added that the event would become an annual occurrence to help spur economic activity in the private sector.
Malotola Phothane, Head of Enterprise Banking, said: As Standard Lesotho Bank, through Business and Commercial Banking, we strive to turn possibilities into opportunities”.
“Lesotho is our home, and we drive her growth,” Phothane said.
