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Part III: You Would not believe this…
For those who have not read part 1 & 2; here are the Links:
Part1
Part2
We finally changed out subject and started talking about Botswana. Botswana is the only African country that has a very strong currency (That is after 2 devaluations of the currency by a total of 25% in 2 years) and has been politically stable for the last 40 years or so…and probably the only country on this planet that has lend money to the World Bank. Botswana is a very small country with 1.6Million people. Their main source of income is export of Diamonds and Export of Beef. Apparently the government of Botswana can continue to feed their people for the next 20 years without even another cent as income.
People in Botswana have been traditionally Nomadic Cattle farmers. They have a very relaxed attitude – there is no hurry in Botswana. (You can have a child by the time they process something… 
)Last 10 to 20 years have seen Botswana grow at a very fast phase. This fast development has been fueled by the money coming in through diamonds. Botswana has a higher percentage of SUV’s that South Africa. All looks so rosy…
Any way my customer started talking about his neighbor. This guy applied for a loan to CIEDA (Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency) to start a business. CEDA is an arm of the Ministry of Trade. Their job is to review proposals from Citizen Entrepreneurs for different ideas, and if the Idea is good – finance the proposal. Very convenient ah? That to at very low interest rates, or even no interest rates and in some cases it is converted into a grant. Any way this guy got approval for finance for setting up a plastic molding factory. They brought in the machinery from somewhere in Europe and set up the operations.
They had only 2 molds – one for plastic spoons and the other for forks. Any way this gentleman starts production and piling it up in his warehouse. My customer happens to visit him at that time. He asked him why he was piling up the stock. The gentleman responded “have not yet received any orders”. Oops! And he was still manufacturing more…
In the international calendar December holidays are considered to be the most important holiday of the year. In Botswana also these holidays start from the mid of December and end by the 3rd of January. By the way, in Botswana they have this custom of having an extra day holiday after a public holiday. And if the public holiday happens to be on a Saturday or Sunday, the following Monday will also be a holiday. Though the holidays are finished by the 3rd of Jan, people start returning only by the mid of Jan.
My customer’s neighbor also went for a holiday. But he left his 4 big air conditions working. Being a good neighbor, my customer tried to call him on his cell phone. He would not pick up the call – he would just cut it off. My customer tried sending him SMS’s. No reply. So as usual he returned by the mid of Jan and came straight to my customers office – and asked him why he was fanatically trying to call him. My customer in turn asked him why he was not picking up the call – to which the gentleman replied “I was on Holiday” and my customer replied “well your aircons were running, I wanted to inform you about it…”
The gentleman’s business did not last very long. He closed down after 6 months of operations. He even gave his 4 air conditioners to the landlord as payment towards 3 month’s airier in rentals. And CEDA took all the machinery and was trying to auction it all to try to recover its money.
There was another similar incident. This guy received a loan for almost BWP 800,000=00 (that is around USD 130,000) from CEDA for setting up some business. He walked straight into the Nisan Showroom, looked at the car’s, choose the car that had the maximum speed printed on the speedometer and gave them the cheque from CEDA. The manager there explained to him that they could not take the cheque, as it was in his name, and that he should go to the bank, deposit it in his account, then withdraw the money required for the car. The gentleman was very upset, He told them that was a very long process and he could not wait.
Two weeks later he was at my customers place. He wanted 100 bucks for petrol in his new merc. My customer was surprised and asked him how he managed to get that car. The gentleman told him the story at Nisan Motors. After that he went to the Merc showroom and the guy’s there took the cheque, and delivered the car within 2 days. (they did all the bank work for him also and since it was a government cheque, there is no way the bank will dishonor it) My customer borrowed him the money, and the guy was gone.
After a few weeks my customer happen to meet him again. This time, he was not driving his merc. So my customer asked him “what happen to your new car?” He told him that he was coming back from this other town with his two girlfriends, and they had an accident and the car was a write off. Also he had forgotten to take any insurance. My customer was shocked and asked him, what he did with the rest of the money, he said he had paid off his girl friend’s home loan. I don’t know what CEDA sold to recover their money…
My customer was telling me – “we are here and making money, cause there are so many of these people here, who don’t know what to do and how to do….”
Am I happy to be in Botswana? Maybe yes…
More on the way. Meanwhile please leave your comments…
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2 comments ↓
Lucifer, you speak really well with a good involvement in the content. but I fail to see a point in this post.
Maybe you should work on creating a good climax …..its almost like having to stop without having orgasm in sex 
A very good metaphor… writing and sex….
A climax - well that is when things end - and I wish things would not end…
T.hink.in - is it not rather wise to leave the climax for the end…
For now I dont intend to stop writing…
Since you have asked for an orgasm - let me give you a small one…
“Look out for my next post”
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