LUDERITZ – Starting from the bottom of the food chain as a waitress 10 years ago at Diaz Coffee Shop and Restaurant, Ndemtila Paulus (36) traversed through stormy waters and ultimately reached the pinnacle.
Today, she is a restaurant owner. Not even multiple rejections from commercial banks for a loan deterred her from soldiering on.
Recently, New Era’s Steven Klukowski sat down with Paulus, who now owns the food outlet in the southern harbour town, to zoom in on her business journey.
From the outset, three things stood head and shoulders above the rest in her success story: hard work, discipline and perseverance.
Going down memory lane, she spoke of her various promotions along the way to become service divisional head, quality control and stock control manager before eventually becoming the outlet’s general manager in 2019.
“Since the owner at that time saw the business potential in me and my two colleagues (who started the place with him), he provided us entrepreneurship as well as business and financial management training. He further gave us a trial to run the coffee shop for a period of one year,” she said.
Paulus added: “Although there was one interested buyer, he never came back to finalise the deal, after which I was given a lifeline to take over the business for N$450 000, on condition that I paid it off in N$10 000 instalments, and the place would be registered under my name,” she said.
She then approached various commercial banks and financial institutions for financial assistance, but was turned down every time.
Making matters worse, it was also during the period of Covid-19 when she could hardly break even with her monthly income against the expenses.
“Due to the fact that I decided not to give up on my dreams, the principles of financial and business skills, hard work and perseverance pushed me through. I can now proudly attest that I will pay my last N$10 000 instalment in August 2025, making me the paid-up owner of Diaz Coffee Shop and Restaurant,” she said gleefully.
“I started as a waitress in 2015, but knew from day one this would not be my lifelong destiny as I believed since then that the sky would not even be my limit because it is my passion to serve customers and satisfy their culinary taste buds, and also my keen interest in the fast-food industry.
It was not long before my hard work and determination started to pay off.”
On her personal challenges in running a one-woman show, she said coming to where she is today required a lot of sacrifices and flexibility.
“I dedicated most of my daily life to the shop in the early stages, getting home at night and exhausted, and at times stressed. But over time, this just made me stronger,” she observed.
Paulus said there were times she went into depression and suffered from hypertension, but eventually overcame these health and mental issues.
In her message to the world, the entrepreneur advised that one should always believe in their abilities and trust in God.
“This was not an easy road for me, but if you become responsible for your destiny in life and passionate about what you want from it, you can and will make it to the top,” she emphasised.
The establishment employs 12 members of the local community and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, but is also famous for its worldwide choices of top-quality coffees.