Four months ago when the COVID 19 lockdown was announced, local businesses were the hardest hit.
However, for a local business that is located in Soshanguve Block VV, Metse Metse Treatment and Purification Systems, owned by Kgothaso Sekhobela, the lockdown brought some fortunes.
Before the lockdown, the company was selling branded bottled water to funerals, shops, events, and catering companies. The company also did the installation of water purifiers to homes. Metsi Metsi was doing good that it managed to employ five workers.
During levels five and four of the COVID 19 lockdown, finding clients was not easy as the company could not generate money which led to employees and operational costs not being paid.
That is when the team decided that they had to be creative and the unintended consequences of COVID – 19 worked to their advantage.
The business was expanded and purchased affordable equipment such as pressure sprayers, fogging machines, chemicals and personal protective equipment (PPE) to cater to the new COVID – 19 environment.
This situation allowed the company to start disinfecting at schools, gyms, churches, medical centers, and shopping centers and also supplied schools with hand sanitizers and masks for learners and teachers.
Mr Sekhobela said his company rose to the occasion when things were bad to offer products and services specifically on healthy living habits. Their main target was people living with diabetes and chronic illnesses to supply then with healthy purified water.
He said Covid – 19 pandemic wiped out a lot of companies. “For us small business, we must think out of the box so that our businesses can survive,” he said.
Now that the business has grown, Mr Sekhobela says he is looking into franchising the business so that he can employ more people in and around Gauteng.
