Driven by passion and patience

(MENAFN - The Post) Maseru -LINTLE Thamae has always had a passion for saving and investing. From her first job as an accounts clerk at the National Motor Company, Thamae would save whatever she could for the rainy day.Then as the savings increased, she started looking for investment opportunities. The idea, as she recalls, was to grow the money for a comfortable retirement.Yet her first initial forays in investments didn''t always work out.She burnt her fingers when she was hoodwinked to invest in two pyramid schemes that quickly collapsed, leaving her shattered and disappointed. Thamae chuckles when she talks of those unfortunate incidents. It wasn''t out of greed that she invested in those schemes. All she wanted was to earn a good return on her income.''Those schemes were marketed like genuine investment opportunities and I trusted that those running them had the best interests of the investors,'' she says. There was also evidence that the ''investments'' were working for others. Thamae could see other ''investors'' prospering.''They were building houses and buying cars. It looked genuine at all levels.''But that is the deceptive nature of such schemes. They create an illusion of success, making those not involved feel as if they are missing out on a big opportunity. Thamae handed her money to the schemes and never saw a cent of it. She took solace from the fact that she wasn''t alone but vowed never to invest in such schemes again. She had learned crucial lessons the hard way but wasn''t bitter.It was while she was smarting from the loss that a friend told her about Sekhametsi Investment Consortium. Still eager to invest, Thamae attended the first Sekhametsi meetings.What she heard was diametrically different to the way the drivers of the two pyramid schemes that had scammed her had pitched their business ideas.''They were not promising instant growth or quick dividends. They just said we are putting money together to buy the government's 12 percent shareholding in Vodacom Lesotho. They were talking about a long-term investment,'' Thamae recalls. That honesty and transparency caught her attention. It resonated with what she had learned in business school, beginning with a Diploma in Business Management at the Commercial Training Institute which would later be renamed Lerotholi Polytechnic College when it became autonomous.The Sekhametsi directors were espousing the same values she had been taught when she earned her accounting licence at the Centre for Accounting Studies. ''I instantly knew that this was the right business for me.''Thamae paid a little over M7 000 for her 213 shares at M34 each. That investment has grown to about M2 million over the past twenty years but it required patience.Thamae says she was not worried when they waited a decade to get their first dividend. ''We knew this was a long-term investment built on a strong foundation.''Apart from the 20 percent stake in Vodacom, Sekhametsi now has interests in textile manufacturing, real estate and financial asset management.But Thamae, who joined the board in 2017, says this is ''just the beginning of great things to come''.''We want to build a company that continues to deliver value to shareholders while making a substantial impact on the economy and people's lives,'' she says. In a way, Sekhametsi's growth mirrors Thamae's life. Both started from humble beginnings before blossoming. They are based on hard work, patience, trust and loyalty.Growing up in the heart of Mafeteng town, Thamae was not raised with a silver spoon in her mouth.''It wasn''t too hard or too easy but just a normal life,'' she says of her upbringing with her two siblings. She could have gone to university after high school but opted to start with a diploma so she could work a little bit before enrolling at the Centre for Accounting Studies, one of whose entry requirements at that time was work experience in accounting or finance.After less than a year at the National Motor Company, she joined the Lesotho Electricity Company (LEC) as an accounts clerk. Promotions would soon follow as she gained both experience and more qualifications.Her accounting licence paved the way for a Bachelor of Business Administration degree at Newport University. A post-graduate diploma and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of KwaZulu Natal would soon follow. She is now the Head of Accounts at LEC. Now 55, Thamae has a thing or two to teach the young generation. She says what has kept Sekhametsi going is trust, transparency and a shared vision.The youth, she warns, should always avoid schemes that come with promises of instant riches.''You should always scrutinise the kind of business before investing. The key question to ask is what kind of a business the company does.''''Ask what the company sells or is building before you hand over your investment. And you have to be prepared to wait for a little while before you start getting a return on your investment''. Thamae says potential investors should never underestimate the importance of the calibre of the people running a company because ''everything stands or falls with leadership''.''Sekhametsi has grown because of having a solid business model and an astute leadership committed to transparency and accountability''. She likes singing and travelling. Like this:Like Loading...MENAFN13052021000229011070ID1102076997