Start Smart

It's been some time since I harvested my in Sehlabeng, and while I had high hopes, the results were disappointing. The severe earlier this year drastically affected the yield—only a few bags from a 3-acre farm. Nonetheless, this journey has been full of valuable lessons.

🌱 Finances: The certified potato seeds, which had to be imported from South Africa, were quite expensive. Unfortunately, with the climate risks, I suffered significant losses. This highlights the urgent need for financial institutions and government policy to address risk management. Tailored insurance products and better funding options for hashtag would be a great start.

🌱 Equipment: My experience with the Department of Agriculture (LEMA) was a mixed bag. On the one hand, they provide access to modern, high-quality farming equipment for Basotho. However, they have very FEW operators—only about 3 active ones across the entire country. Due to ongoing Block farming initiatives, these operators were mostly unavailable. It’s great that the equipment exists, but without enough operators, it’s as if it doesn’t. I urge the government to recruit more operators in line with the growing agricultural demands in Lesotho.

🌱 Market: The Fresh Produce Market was established with good intentions to help farmers sell their produce. However, the current payment model, where farmers are paid only after their produce is sold, creates challenges. Many farmers rely on immediate cash flow, which discourages them from using the market. Additionally, since the market doesn’t cover losses from perished goods, farmers bear that risk. I hope that in the future, Lesotho National Development Corporation and the government can review this model to better serve and match the unique needs and circumstances of Basotho farmers.

Likhomo!

Join us today at 1p.m as we unpack all things Participatory Design and Human Centered Design

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIodeiqrDsrEtVUOGtgvQVoCV3NXWU_WLgZ

Thank you to the The Entrepreneurs Network for hosting us yet once more for the second edition of the in collaboration with UNDP Lesotho.
They welcomed more than 60 entrepreneurs from all the central regions of Lesotho: central, South and the North.
Our lovely CIO Ms. Maneo Seekane facilitated a workshop with our to use the tool for value added to their customers and stakeholders. Great job to you once again for hosting yet another successful session. We can't wait to join again next year.

We hope you're enjoying the rest of the 😀 as we kickstart the month of Aug, we're so happy to bring back the in collaboration with American Corner Maseru. Know any MSME who needs lessons learnt from this and could use the space to learn & collaborate, let them know and let's RSVP for Aug 19th via email on [email protected] or (+266) 5788 5238/(+266) 6835 7355

A catch up on today's workshop at PISA Centre; Leribe with our young .
We'll catch up tomorrow for day two as we cover business modeling, value propositions and pitches ❤️

Part of our objectives is to assist discover their value propositions, business models and how to pitch, which key points to take note of and highlight. Each business /business idea should have a problem it's solving and uniqueness compared so how do we find and communicate it? We can't wait to share this at our next session ❤️