Born in the Omusati region, Ester Hamukoto moved to Windhoek when she was four years old to live with her grandmother with the divorce of her parents. She started school at the Augheikas Primary and later changed to the Martti Ahtisaari Primary School until her Grade 7.
‘My grandmother being an entrepreneur had a full time job but employed two women who helped her sell basic needs from home to the community. Growing up I was very conservative at school and would assist the ladies after school.” Hamukoto then continued with her schooling at the Ella Du Plessis Secondary School where she finished her Grade 12. She was not very sportive but took part in the chess club and the ladies club. The school took part in the Junior Achievement programme and she was selected the board of the business that the school started as part of this programme and later became the Financial Manager. They would sell snacks and beverages to students and teachers and in 2011 the company was selected as the top business achiever in the country through the programme.
Hamukoto finished her high school in 2007 and was unable to continue studying due to financial problems, which pushed her to find employment in December 2007 as an administrative assistant at the Namibia Non-governmental Organisations Forum ( NANGOF) Trust until May 2008 when she received an offer from a consultancy firm that developed data bases as a personal assistant. In 2009 she enrolled with The University of Namibia where she studied Business Administration and majoring in Marketing. She is graduating this year with an honours degree.
In 2010 Hamukoto received another job offer at Bonlife Insurance but continued part time with the consultancy firm until 2012 when her employer had to go back to England. “ I had a full time job at Bonlife and a part time job at the consulting company but it was all doing data bases, it was in the same field, I was determined to make something with my life and it was worth the sacrifice. In 2011 I registered my own company called Esh-Ham Business Consultants, as I always wanted to be entrepreneur but did not manage to start working on the company as I still did not know what to do. In 2013 I got my first job where a friend of mine that had a training centre. I received a tender for capacity building for a government institution in Gobabis.”
The main business core at Esh-Ham Business Consultants is marketing but due to lack of finances, Hamukoto is currently concentrating on company registrations, business plans, proof reading, company profiles and administrative support for companies. She is currently the Data Base Manager at the Civil Society Foundation of Namibia, a programme under the NANGOF Trust.
Hamukoto has turned to Facebook and printing flyers to market her business, as other avenues can proof costly for a Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) like hers. She spends a lot of her free time at her company catching up with operations and new developments and promoting her services on Facebook.
Hamukoto plans on taking a gap year this year doing her MBA (Masters in Business Administration) and moving her company into the marketing industry which currently employees two ladies on a full time basis. She is passionate about entrepreneurship and helping other SMEs to grow and plans creating a visual assistance centre where SMEs can make use of the facilities to work from, and help them with their administrative needs as well as offer expertise.
Hamukoto advises the youth to start businesses about what they are passionate about as money does not just show up on day one. She also advises them to be determined, committed and to persevere as these qualities will help them greatly starting up.