The business of sweets

ROMA – HAPPINESS is sweet.
This is the principle that is driving a National University of Lesotho (NUL) trained graduate, Liepollo Mpabatsane, as she enters into the business of making sweets.

You will find in her catalogue, the swinging jelly sweets, the crackly candy canes and lolly pops, and the exciting caramel pop-corns.

“The choice is yours,” said the ever-smiling Mpabatsane whose company is called Jolly Jaws.

“I’ve always wanted to own a production business,” said the girl who traces her roots back to Leribe, Ha-Motšoane.

She, however, moved in to live with her aunt in Roma when both her parents died when she was just 10-years-old.
She still recalls a time when she was doing her first year at the NUL.

Something happened then that would change her worldview forever.

“One of my friends invited me to attend presentations by fifth year Chemical Technology students,” she said.

She did not know what to expect but she went anyway.
Surprises were awaiting her.

“I’ve always considered myself to be a practical person, someone who likes doing tangible things,” she said.

“I must say I came to NUL hoping to enroll in Environmental Sciences but I came back from the presentations looking to go into Chemical Technology.”

What did she learn in those presentations?
Her eyes lit up as she explained: “Those folks were all presenting tangible products. I like tangible things, things that work on the ground and I thought, “This is for me.””

Presenter-after-presenter was showcasing tangible products they were developing and testing.
One guy, she observed, fascinated her with his development of leather products.

“This guy had everything about tanning leather at his fingertips. He detailed his work from the process of adding chemicals to the skins up to how the leather became a completed product. He mustered the science and engineering of it all.”

Another presenter mesmerised her with her work in the development of cosmetic products at Tripharm.
All these things left a mark.

It was no surprise then, when she took up Chemical Technology in her second-year and that was it.
It is a decision she said she never regretted.

“I found exactly what I expected,” she said.

“We were learning so much about too many tangible things. Everything from foods to metals, plastics to ceramics, in fact I feel like I can make so many products if ever there was money to fund such endevours.”

In her fourth year project, she did something fascinating.
She extracted an active ingredient in a plant called moringa, one of the most respected plants in the world for its health benefits.

She was later attached to Tripharm in her fifth year.
Here she was developing and implementing the method of testing certain chemicals in skin creams.

She was in the quality department with the job of ensuring that the products were as up to the standards of the company as possible.

“Our work in the quality department was to check the work of the producers,” she said.

“Are they making products with the same quantities of ingredients as recommended?”

She completed her studies and landed a job as a quality control manager at a landfill.
With the money she collected from the job and assistance of her mother, she put things together and planned her own business.

She was going to produce sweets.
Who knows little about life who hasn’t enjoyed the simple taste of sweets?

Sweets are powerful!
And they have been with us since time immemorial.

Ancient Egyptians made sweets by combining fruits and nuts with honey some 4 000 years ago.
Well, such recipes still exist to this day.

Nowadays there is no end to the variety of sweets you can make.
But some of the most delightful sweets you can taste are jelly sweets.

After a lot of work, she came up with sweets with a sour taste jelly delights that will keep you munching the entire day.
She also makes hard sweets like candy canes and lolly pops.

She will then wrap up your day with her caramel pop-corn glees.

She works with her retired aunt and hopes to produce and sell more.

“The problem with my products is that there is just too much demand for them, so people are complaining that I am not giving them enough.”
Her company’s motto is: happiness is sweet.

Own Correspondent