Startup Story
Lesotho has a big challenge when it comes to economically empowering disenfranchised women in the country. But one woman entrepreneur, Paballo Mokoqo, founder of Dust Busters (Pty) Ltd, is providing a solution with her world class business solution for domestic cleaning.
LoA chatted to founder Paballo Mokoqo this month to find out more.
What does your company do?
At Dust Busters, we provide cleaning and laundry services for the upper end of the market, as well as SMMEs and corporates. Our cleaning services range from cleaning of standard rooms, such as kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms, as well as more irregular jobs like deep carpet cleaning, upholstery cleaning and post construction cleaning. We also provide a full range of cleaning services that can be customized to match clients’ needs. Our comprehensive service capabilities include recurring cleaning, spring-cleaning, tenancy cleaning, post construction cleaning, after party cleaning and laundry services.
“At the heart of what we do is economic empowerment of women in Lesotho who have no formal education or training.”
What inspired you to start your company?
Dust Busters was established in 2013 in a bid to professionalize the domestic cleaning industry and to economically empower disenfranchised women in Lesotho. The latter is particularly important as 62% of women are unemployed nationally – a bleak picture for a country where 36% of households are women-headed. With training and web-based sales, we have created professional cleaning jobs that pay three times more than the historical rate.
Why should anyone use your service or product?
At the heart of what we do is economic empowerment of women in Lesotho who have no formal education or training. Lesotho’s domestic cleaning industry is highly informal and securing home help is a tedious process that poses risk of theft by domestic help secured informally. Approximately 10,000 upper class households in the capital city alone, seek and can afford professional domestic help. These households are typically ages 32-55 with houses valued over $250,000. This segment has tremendous potential to pay premium wages to well-trained and well-organized cleaning women. With one cleaning woman able to clean 10 homes per month (one day every two weeks), there is the potential to lift 1,000 impoverished women and their families out of poverty. Since we began operating in 2014, we have trained and employed over 30 such women who were previously unemployed or underemployed.
“Since we began operating in 2014, we have trained and employed over 30 such women who were previously unemployed or underemployed.”
Tell us a little about your team
Dust Busters currently has 9 employees, 90% of which were previously unemployed.
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And, do you come from an entrepreneurial background?
I began my entrepreneurial journey in 2013 as a Founder and CEO of Dust Busters. In 2016, I was selected by Vodacom Lesotho as one of six entrepreneurs to participate in a business acceleration program as a result of my demonstrated commitment to growing not only myself but others through entrepreneurship. At the end of the program, I received an honorary mention for Best Pitch in the 2016 cohort.
A graduate of Witwatersrand Business School and National University of Lesotho, I am also a Mandela Washington Fellowship Alumna and United States African Development Foundation (USAFD) grantee. I am currently the outgoing Curator at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Shapers Maseru Hub and in October 2018, I represented the Hub at the Global Shapers Annual Summit in Geneva, Switzerland.
Through these prestigious affiliations, I have been exposed to and make significant contributions to the entrepreneurship sector and youth development in Lesotho, including co-leadership of the annual entrepreneurship expo and The Hook Up Dinner (THUD) Maseru. All these initiatives strive to spur initiative among youth and grow the entrepreneurial ecosystem for sustainable development of Lesotho.
“I am a strong believer in the catalytic role women and youth can play in the socio-economic growth of their nations, and I have no doubt that Dust Busters is one of the many vehicles through which this can be achieved.”
What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?
I am a strong believer in the catalytic role women and youth can play in the socio-economic growth of their nations, and I have no doubt that Dust Busters is one of the many vehicles through which this can be achieved. My deepest aspiration, therefore, is to grow Dust Busters beyond the borders of Lesotho and establish our footprint across Africa. Ultimately, I envision a Lesotho, an Africa, where opportunities are free for all, and personal effort primarily determines a person’s fate.
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
The thrill of seeing dreams and goals come to pass and bearing witness to that transformative process.
What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
Envision and dare to start, but consistently work towards perfecting your craft.
Contact or follow Dust Busters
WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | EMAIL paballomokoqo@gmail.com
Why LoA loves it….
At Lionesses of Africa, we love to see women entrepreneurs with vision who take on big and much needed socio-economic challenges and, importantly, find solutions. In Lesotho, disadvantaged women have a real champion in Paballo. She is someone who understands the power of creating real opportunities for women to thrive and take control of their lives economically. She is also taking a world-class approach to the challenge at hand, creating a business that differentiates itself by doing things to a high standard of delivery. — Melanie Hawken, founder & ceo of Lionesses of Africa