360 on Molefi-Urban Soul

 

A tycoon in his own regard, the founder of ‘Urban Soul’ Molefi Nkwete needs no-less introduction than that of an ‘emperor of state’. Perhaps a much more definable state being the hip and urban clothing market locally. He has been able to define urban wear; make it an unmatched profitable business through his dedication in developing a systematic stalwart brand that will soon hit the market in Southern Africa and abroad.

A decade ago, his story was an inspirational one of a student who saw life in a much broader sense, travelling a lot, taking risks all to start a business from a school bag. To date, he is the owner of four Urban Soul stores all placed in the high end Malls in Gaborone, and a Franchisor to the fifth. He is the first Motswana to put up a local brand up in the Franchise scene. It is safe to say this high flier has definitely succeeded in shattering rules and the culture canon to pieces aggressively.

Upon making our appointment, the prospect image was to probably meet a man who constantly speaks on the phone, possibly in a suit and keeping a tight schedule or even away for travel. But as we met at one of his stores at the Airport Junction Mall in Gaborone, he was geared on some distinctive sneakers, worn with a branded track suit and a t-shirt; and a back pack; A thing with a back pack he has, a lifestyle maybe.

Taking Urban Soul the franchise route, Nkwete sits down in his close office to take us through this development. It made headlines on the last trimester of 2015 when he put up one of his store in Rail Park Mall.

“It’s an expansion strategy; that will not only enhance the growth of the brand but will empower local entrepreneurs by giving them a chance to partake in the franchise avenue.”

After coming to the realisation that being a sole owner to all these shops requires more time than he can accord, he and his team took a decision to outsource services and put up the first franchise for sale late 2015.

“It allowed us to accumulate more capital and have ample time to weigh up ways to further grow the brand. He confirms his plans to continue putting more stores up for franchise but he says the process of nominating franchisees will be a very particular one. “We wish to undertake thorough research and engage on an exhaustive due diligence in choosing our buyers,” he adds. As a result, the franchise opportunity is not for everyone but definitely open for the public. “We have a proven track record in growing our brand and it is for the same reason we wish to engage with buyers who will be able to represent and continue the legacy and maintain the standards we have kept all these years.”

He notes the secret to starting and running a franchise as first succeeding in developing a system that not only works but can also be duplicated and remain consummate. However for a first timer, his main challenge he says is the likelihood for a compromise of standards. “People have a tendency to think short term, more of survival mode rather than thinking long term, and that’s what usually kills businesses here in Botswana.” He challenges locals to develop sustainable brands and avoid thinking small but rather think long term.

In the midst of Urban Souls’ growth plans includes spreading across selected areas in the country to the southern African region. “We are certain of the market in places like Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, Mozambique, Angola and South Africa and it is surely were we intend to open shop in every one of these,” he says in a calm yet assured manner.

Urban Soul as a contemporary brand offers exclusive market brands. Similarly it has been able to compete and be part of the equation in the retail sector in the country. This is according to Nkwete who also alludes to the many opportunities present yet not fully exploited by locals. He said he has come to the realisation that for a long time Batswana have not been taking advantage of the open markets in the retail sector. “96 percent of all retail set ups locally are foreign owned and retail alone accounts to up 15billion of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The question is how many Batswana are benefitting from this equation,” he quizzes. “On the other side one may question, but how many Batswana put in money into these businesses.”  

For a witty man, Nkwete has shown incredible poise and endurance over the years it’s become quite an easy task to note his farsightedness. Owning a company with an annual turnover of over 5 million, the next step he says should be more vigorous expansion. Prospects cultivated as he became curious about listing early this year. All this he says was motivated when he attended the Botswana Stock Exchange Listing Conference.

“Expanding through debt finance is difficult and commercial banks are not even ready to inject finance into companies like ours. We cannot wait and sit because of this. The company needs to be capitalised and we thought indeed listing could be an option.” Nkwete adds.  Presently the business is still in advisory stage however he reveals that it will be listed privately for start. This he says will be a benchmark for the future that is if the company later opts to later list publicly.

“It’s a process and we appreciate that it takes time, so we wish to first do what makes most economic sense to the brand and the businesses. Private listing is manageable and opportune at the moment, which is what we prefer at the moment.”

Amid his portfolio, Nkwete shares of his property investments as one of the few ways he and his company diversify. Also, Urban Soul has started taking the manufacturing root, where it will be localised as a fashion line. “We are partnering with manufacturers to enable the production of our own line. We should be able to produce our own apparel to export,” he declares. His aim is for Urban Soul to be able to expand into other markets enough to compete with brands like Nike, Adidas, and Roca wear for example.

“The truth is, when people walk into our stores, they come to buy foreign brands, so now we want to bring local brands into the store,” he adds. Already Urban Soul has manufactured, T-shirts, sweaters and caps but continues to advance into other fashion items. Other local fashion lines homed at Urban Soul Stores include Real Legends and Sick Bunch. This he says, does not only boost the business but is another way to boost local brands to make them identified and celebrated across borders.

“Our brand will be an export product into other markets. At the moment we are certain of the America as one of the first and main markets where our product will trade,” reveals Nkwete. He says, as it is Urban Soul has stores that have expressed interest in having our product in their stores in America and other African markets. Ten years later Urban Soul will further branch out into apparel divisions. “We will have stores like Urban Soul Sports, Men, Women, Urban Souls Home for example. By then, Nkwete says, the company should be global.

He is still concerned about the lack of financial support for SMMEs. He is even more fretful of the lack of support from either the government or the private sector in the creative industry. Funds usually go to construction, farming, what about the creative industry? He poses. In his regard, the master mind strongly believes that the creative probably holds the key to the lack of strong brands locally. “We want to create, creating a brand means creating employment, it means creating business, and such creations need funding.”

He notes strong local brands like the Braai Place restaurant, Seabelo Express, Pop Inn, Afro Butchery as some of the brands that probably need to be tapped in for them to grow beyond Botswana. “In fact these are the kind of brands that should be put out on the Franchise scene to expand and grow,” he advises. He recommends that in also putting in place systems that will pillar the survival of local brands, the government and the private sector should look into investing in them.

“Let us invest in our people, localise our brands and invest more and more in them.” He challenges local entrepreneurs to take charge and work at creating a product host country. “Are we attracting investors with our ideas?” because if not he says, we have a long way to go.