Doing it for herself

The owner of Techgeeks, Tylene Claasen has decided to make an entry into the technologies service industry as a means of helping herself and her community through realising her full potential.
The 22-year-old beauty hails from Namibia where she was born, raised and spent most of her formative years growing up in a small town in northern Germany. Having had the opportunity to move to a first world country at a young age, Tylene decided to take all opportunities that came her way in order to bring that knowledge and experience back home to Namibia where she planned to pour her knowledge and skills into the country.
Tylene is trained as a trading assistant specialised in the field of languages and commerce, and studied at a college in Germany.
She said that she is very passionate about women empowerment in the business sector, especially coloured women. “I’m worried that we as coloured females, especially the young ladies, are not inspired enough to go out there and become self-made women. I think that society doesn’t uplift us in that aspect. I have to prove that stereotype wrong and make any difference that I can” she said with determination.
Tylene runs an electronic repair and resale store with a vision to turn the business into one of the leading specialist service companies in the country run by a woman. Techgeeks offer cell phone and computer repairs which are both software and hardware related. “I feel like there are not enough women in the technical service field, and I wanted to be part of the few that prove that you don’t need a man to run a technical business.”
She said that unlike other small cell phone or electronic shops, Techgeeks deals in only a certain range of devices, which means that they are able to build and familiarise themselves with repairing or servicing those particular devices.
When she started the business, she says some of the start-up challenges could be copied ad pasted from any other small business that was trying to enter a niche market.
“Like any start-up business there was a lot of challenges. For us after registering the business with the Ministry of Trade and Industry we were stuck with the task of looking for a shop space. We had identified some spaces which we then tried to lease, but unfortunately due to budget constraints we could not afford what we had in mind.”
After some time Tylene said they found the place from which they are now operating from, adding that the space was renovated for Techgeeks by her and her boyfriend from scratch.
The energised and seemingly capable entrepreneur says that she is inspired by happiness, and bases her life on being happy in any and everything that she does. “Because of that, I decided to start my own company as way to work for myself, uplifting my community through being an example of what one can through determination and hard work” she said.
At the moment, Tylene is dedicating every waking moment to her business, saying that she is on a study break at the moment while she guides her business though its first year, and thereafter she will be able to delegate tasks to her team whom she feels will be able to handle the business by then, so that she can go back to school and continue her studies.
Her fundamental inspiration for becoming a self-starter was her experience living through poverty. “To be honest, it wasn’t a person that inspired me, it was poverty. Having been exposed to so much poverty in my country, I knew that I wanted to make a change for the better, even if it was to just start with myself.”
Techgeeks was financed saving money from holiday jobs as well as collecting some money she got from doing part-time jobs. Family and friends who believe in the team also invested in the company.
Tylene says that she hopes the business will become a nationwide brand, and added that she would love to see her business branch out to a shopping centre as well as possibly establishing one or two branches at the coast and the northern part of the country.
Although the business is very young, it is starting to break-even. However, the company is positive that it will be more profitable in the near future.
“Like any business, the most rewarding thing is seeing your clients leaving the store with a smile on their face. We are very fortunate to have clients recommending us to other possible clients, as well as believing in the service that we provide” Tylene commented on, the most rewarding aspect of running a technology service company.
She says that she employs a basic rule to keep herself and her business above the tides that often drown small businesses. “There is only one rule that I have running the business and that is hard work. Remember when you have your own business you work twice as hard. I always think of new ideas, new products that I can use to bring more clients into our doors.”
Tylene saluted all the young Namibians, especially women that are doing it for themselves. “I’m glad so many young people are opening businesses and putting themselves on the market as their service providers, it’s a real achievement and if they read this I would like to send a message out to them saying “just don’t give up” she advised.
Tylene believes that anyone can achieve what she has if they just apply some stealth to their dreams. “I have learnt many things since opening up Techgeeks, and one of those lessons is that you have to put time and effort into your business and not just jump into creating an idea without proper planning. Don’t open up a business because you want to become a millionaire, start your business because you are passionate about what you do, and want to make a change in your community by creating employment and offering great services to your clients.”
The business address is #4 Marconi Industrial Park, Marconi Street, Southern Industrial area if you would like to visit Tylene and her innovative team.