Previously one of the country’s top DJs, Teboho Choto ÔÇô who traded under the name DJ Choto ÔÇô now plays in a different league.
Together with his fianc├®e Martha Williams, he co-owns Oracia Holdings, a logistics and transportation company that started operation less than six months back and already sits on multi-million Pula contract in South Africa.
Unfortunately, for now the deal has only remained on paper because what everybody thought would be the easy part has turned out to be the most difficult.
“We signed the contract knowing that if you have a signed contract there are institutions in place that can help with funds,” Choto explains.
The work requires 22 trucks, which carry a total price tag of P48million, and the partners approached CEDA for assistance.
“Unfortunately,” says Choto, “because we didn’t have any security we were unable to secure the 22 trucks.”
Since then, they have been on an emotionally draining journey, knocking on doors ÔÇô from government to private institutions, including writing a letter to the president.
“We’ve been everywhere,” chips in Williams.
In the bid to raise funding for their project, the partners have experienced what they previously only heard of, or read about, never imagining that it could happen to them. For instance, they have met potential financiers who went behind their backs and tried to cut them out of the deal. They would be surprised to be called by their contact in South Africa to alert them that he was being contacted by people he had never met who wanted a piece of the action. And when he mentioned the names, it would turn out these were the people they had approached for funding.
“Some prominent people, I won’t say names , but very prominent people, after we went to see them hoping to be assisted tried to discourage us saying, ‘this is not going to work; you guys are too young; how do you guys land such a contract le le banyenyane jaana, especially in South Africa?’. They would discourage us, only for them to call us the next day to say ‘give that thing to me and I will pay you off a little fee and just go your own way because it is not going to work for you’. There was a prominent person that we looked up to; he said, literally, that we will die with this contract in our hands. For us that was a game changer,” says Choto. “If we have to die with this contract in our hands, we will die with it in our hands.”
After so many doors have been slammed on their faces, they are still confident that someday they will pull it off. If you wonder where they get the drive, you have to listen to Williams.
“We are people of faith,” she explains. “The promises of God (is what keeps us going). In the Bible there’s the scripture that says all the plans He has are for us to prosper; so if you are still struggling know that He has not fulfilled his promises yet. That is what we are still holding on to. And we believe in ourselves as well. We don’t give up easily. Giving up is for somebody who has everything. You give up if you know you have something to fall back on. But the fact that we still want a future for our children; we still want a future for our country that’s the one thing that fuels our passion. We still want to achieve a lot at the age that we are at. The Facebook guy became a millionaire in an instant at a very young age in his 20s. Nothing stops us from moving forward. Until we live our dream we will not stop.”
Choto states that he has experienced worse hardships in his previous business deals, sometimes losing money, and this has steeled his determination.
“I’ve had money stolen from me; hundreds of thousands stolen from me,” he says. “I have tendered under friends’ companies and even had to look for finance, and then from there because the work was won in their company name, when the payment came, after I had done all the work, they didn’t even so as to give me an ounce to pay back my initial capital.”
What he has learnt from the deals that went awry is that nothing comes easy.
“Whatever you do, there will always be forces against what you are trying to do, especially if you are an outstanding person,” he says.
At the moment, packing their bags and relocating to South Africa, where they have met better reception from potential financiers, is not an option.
“We gonna stick it out,” answers Choto. “We know that we will succeed; we will win.”
Williams explains the decision this way: “If we leave and we don’t challenge the status quo, then who will do it? David had to face Goliath to show that you are more than able to do it; you can take on the giants if you are ready to. The drive is still there within us. It’s upon each and everyone of us to see that we fight for what we want in life, and that we fight until we achieve it. If you have the will and the drive to achieve your dream and to go through hell and back, then go ahead and do it.”
