At the age of 25, youthful entrepreneur, Aone Mothobi, is running a debt-collecting agency named Urban Pace, whose mandate is to help people collect their outstanding debts.
In an interview with Voice Money this past week, Mothobi said his company was first established back in 2019 but started operating in July 2020.
“My interest to run this particular business started in 2019 even though I previously worked as a debt collector, messenger, and paralegal in various law firms such as Masire Legal Practice and Sebego Attorneys just to mention a few. I felt I was ready to start my own legacy while making a difference in the community,” said Mothobi.
The Mahalapye born Mothobi says they work in partnership with different law firms in Gaborone to ease their work. “We have affiliated with several law firms in the country such as Brown & Company Attorneys and Daniel Fohlani & Associates in order to take our clients through legal processes, as we are not lawyers yet,” he said.
The ambitious debt collector says their relationship with the law firms is vital as they play complementary roles in the debt collection business. “Debt collection in Botswana is not yet in statute hence the idea is to operate under the law firms and share clients. Furthermore, when a client comes seeking our assistance, we do all the paperwork, drop the summons, or apply an alternative dispute resolution, which is important as the idea is to settle outstanding debts in a peaceful manner,” explained the ambitious debt collector.
Mothobi also attributes his business success to his dedicated staff. “Our staff complement includes me as the Managing Director and founder of the company, two debt collectors being Mmoloki Boysen and Ogone Mothobi and an accountant Mosetsana Lerothodi,” he said.
Quizzed about the challenges he encountered since starting this business, he said; “The fact that debt collection is not yet recognized in the country is problematic as courts do not trust debt collectors to appear on behalf of clients. That is why we rely on law firms to help us,” he explained.
Boasting two certificates at the moment, Mothobi aims to be one of the best lawyers in the country. “I have two certificates so far; Certificate in Law and Certificate of Proficiency (COP) and I am currently studying Diploma in Law as I am en route to becoming one of the finest lawyers in Botswana. It will take some bit of time to realise my dreams, but I have the patience and the devotion to making a difference in our society,” said Mothobi.
He further said the business started off slowly in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic but they managed to pull some strings to ensure that the company was able to sustain itself. “We started our entity at a very challenging time of Covid-19, but we worked really hard to make sure that our services are known and we established a firm clientele base to sustain ourselves,” he said.
Mothobi’s company is based in Gaborone, New Canada, and he says their services are affordable as the rates are as little as 10% from the capital that is owed,” said Mothobi.