The thin line between success and failure could be one lucky punch, one mistimed duck. Kagiso Kgangyapelo (22) knows this, which is why he tends to leave the dreaming about his future to others.
Kgangyapelo, a budding entrepreneur and Moshupa native tells the Sunday Standard that in modern society, failure has become some sort of a taboo as people hardly talk about it.
“When our mistakes stare us in the face, we often find it so upsetting that we miss out on the primary benefit of failing; the chance to get over our egos and come back with a stronger, smarter approach”, says Kgangyapelo.
While Kgangyapelo failed his Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) in 2015, he believes that it was just a steppingstone to his success now.
“I promised myself that I would never allow it to dictate my actions. In fact, when I did fail, and I mean fail miserably to a degree that I wouldn’t wish on even my worst enemies, I actually realized that the world did not end. Nothing stopped. Things kept going. People talked for a while then they moved onto other topics, other people and other behind-the-back whispers.”
Instead he opted to do furniture and houses from wooden pallets as he treasured that he was so good with his hands.
“However I have four other partners, whom one is my biological brother and two are my neighbours that I am working with in a secure factory. We were trying to trench the unemployment rate which is a major concern in our country and at the same time exploring our creativities,” he says.
Kgangyapelo says it is impressive how something as common as a pallet can be used to create something as original and complex as a piece of furniture. Thus the idea of using pallets is based on the concepts or recycling and auto construction.
“The great thing about it is that you don’t have to poses specialized knowledge nor to be a professional designer to be able to make your own pallet furniture. They already have defined shapes that can be very helpful sometimes. In some cases, all you have to do is places two pallets on top of each other, paint them and your project is done.”
He says the only problem that they have is that nowadays they are too many people doing the same business as them, so to survive they have to search a spot where it could be them only and at the same time where they could be seen by many people.
The 22 years old says he hope to see their business in the next five years, big and hiring as many people as they can.
When asked to give budding entrepreneurs advice he says, “They have to be patient and show love to their customers.”
