Whether you have run a business before or are looking to launch your first company and in need of some inspiration, your starting point could be at the Gaborone, Serowe and Gabane public transport stations.
These are three contact points where you are likely to meet Phuti Babotlhale, the founder of Last Solution (Pty) Ltd trading as Bus Rank Parcel Counter.
The company currently has three branches in Gaborone, Serowe and Gabane and is planning to open the fourth branch at Gaborone West in July this year.
While Parcel Counter growth strategy has been clearly laid, it is the first branch, the Gaborone Bus Rank Parcel Counter which stands out. The branch first opened its doors in 2017 with the core business being entailing a ‘pick and drop’ of parcels by commuters.
“A parcel counter is a business where people can leave their bags for safe keeping. When a person is traveling and they want to run errands before departure they can leave their bags with us at a very reasonable fee,” shares Babotlhale.
While the initial business was largely centred on safely keeping parcels, the company has since introduced several other services that include charging phones and mobile money services.
The mobile business in Botswana has been increasing over the years, more than doubling between 2018 and 2022. Mobile money technology allows customers to receive, store and spend money using a mobile phone without a bank account.
Babotlhale says apart from the mobile money services offered by the three national telecos, Parcel Counter also offers the newly introduced and fast growing FNB Cash Plus service.
He shares that the FNB Cash Plus service is quite big because Parcel Counter was one of the first agents when the bank launched the product.
“In Serowe most Ipelegeng workers get their salaries from our branch, arguably making it one of the best if not the best performing Cash Plus agents in Serowe,” says Babotlhale.
On the teleco services side, Parcel Counter collectively assists more or less 150 Orange money customers in a day at the three branches. The company also offers Mascom MyZaka, and has advanced plans to introduce BTC Smega services.
Babotlhale, who considers himself serial entrepreneur, has employed 18 full time employees and he says this will increase once the company opens its G-West branch.
He adds that whenever the company makes profit, the money is channeled towards investing it into opening a new branch because he believes this is the secret to making it big in business.
He freely shares that Parcel Counter was his former business partner’s idea given his travel escapades. He also candidly explains that Parcel Counter started when he had tried and tested so many business ideas that had failed and was on the brink of giving up.
“We invested a lot into it because it came at a time when we had stress from failing in business, so we just put everything into it and its growth surpassed our expectations,” he explains.
Babotlhale says Parcel Counter’s policy on privacy and secrecy is clear. The company understands that it handles people’s phones and bags and in terms of security they have systems in place that allow them to handle these in a well and secure manner. The company has CCTV cameras installed in all their branches.
“We label our customers’ items and we really do our best to ensure that we handle them in a safe and secure manner. Mistakes have occurred in the past but they were very minimal, that is why people still believe in us and continue to work with us,” he noted.
He noted that they have also been able to establish a great working rapport with people that work around Bus ranks over the years. This has also helped their security to remain tight.
For this entrepreneur all the challenges that he goes through every day teach him quite a lot.
“What I love most about Parcel Counter is that we always try so many things. Opening up a new branch is very difficult and expensive but we are always up for the challenge, and we are fully aware that not all the branches will be profitable,” he stated.
Babotlhale thrives on setting up challenges for himself, explaining that If they stop doing that it will become boring. They have had a fair share of failures from trying out new services the same way they have become successful in many others.
He says the company has a new business at Gaborone Hotel which has been operational for the past 5 months. It’s a retail business that sells mostly to hawkers around the bus rank.
“We are fairly new in the market and we don’t have a lot of customers as we are still battling issues of pricing and getting better suppliers,” he says.
Babotlhale said Parcel Counter is more like a school where he is learning how to run a business. He has faith that one day he will run a big multi million Pula business that will require the skills and experience that he is currently gaining.
He tries to engage and involve his management team as much as possible so that one day when the business is bigger they are able to handle it.
The Parcel Counter owner doesn’t have much of a personal life as most of his time is taken by growing his business. “I blame Parcel Counter for being single because I do not have time. We are always building a new business and it can be so frustrating because it requires time and money,” he noted.
Despite all this he is grateful to have a reliable management team because they always try to develop their services, their record keeping methods, the way they advertise, how they manage themselves and the way they manage their branches. “It’s well managed, not perfect but well managed,” he says.
Babotlhale is also a Graphic Designer, a job he is leaving at Sunday Standard newspaper so that he concentrates fully on his business.
“People always say that I’m smart but I think I am good at using the ideas that people give me. For example, the idea of charging phones wasn’t my idea. Someone came up to me and said we are struggling, we have nowhere to charge, please do something, and I did. I listen to people’s needs and I implement them,” he explains.
He notes that what keeps them going as a business is that they have agreed that they should operate Parcel Counter as if competition is coming, in terms of their service, pricing and advertising.
Babotlhale’s advice to aspiring business owners is to read books to allow oneself to understand and do things better. “I read a lot of business books because I didn’t study business at school. I always tell my friends when they ask me about business that you can’t run a business if you don’t read in this fast paced technology driven world. I listen to audio books on youtube almost every day. I read a lot about business management, advertising and also motivational talks about life because running a business can be quite stressful,” he says.
Parcel Counter operates from Monday-Sunday and to find out more about their business and services. Contact : +267 72625473 or email: [email protected] or follow their Facebook page: Phuti PHUTIZER Babotlhale.
