24 Sep 2014

The deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs, Ms Kelebogile Kgabi says there is need for continuous efforts to economically empower women.

Speaking at the business forum, which is part of the second northern women’s exposition on Tuesday, September 23, Ms Kgabi said the 2013 Gender Baseline study indicated that women were still living in poverty as opposed to their male counterparts.

She said since women played critical roles ranging from heading families and care giving there was need for them to have permanent sources of income.

Ms Kgabi noted that the government came up with economic empowerment programmes specifically for women in order to enable them to generate income.

She said the exposition just like the theme depicts is aimed at empowering women economically in order for all to prosper and progress.

The deputy mayor, Ms Joyce Ndove said most businesses in Francistown are owned by women, a clear indication that the economy of the city is in the hands of women, hence the need to empower them.

She said her council supports government empowerment initiatives such as poverty eradication and Economic Diversification Drive (EDD).

Ms Ndove further assured the women of council’s support and urged them to comply with all requirements that could enable their businesses to penetrate foreign markets.

She urged the women to share ideas and skills that could improve their businesses during the exposition and not only be interested in getting prizes.

Still at the forum, a Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) official, Mr Outlwile Ebutswe encouraged the women entrepreneurs to market their businesses.

Mr Ebutswe explained that marketing deals with finding out who their customers are, what they want and how they can satisfy them and at the same time make profit.

He noted that in any business, marketing increases sales, the company’s reputation and its ability to penetrate the market.

Mr Ebutswe said customer satisfaction is also a good element in a business and urged the women to always communicate with their customers to get feedback and ensure that they respond promptly to the needs of the customers in order to make them happy.

Ms Bawilili Willie from Out of School Education Training (OSET) implored the women entrepreneurs to keep records of every transaction that take place in the business. She said through proper record keeping they could tell whether their businesses were thriving or not.

Ms Willie said there was also need to have a record on re-order levels saying in most cases entrepreneurs only realise that they are out of stock where the customer wants to buy. ‘

The exposition continues until September 27 under the theme, “Women’s Economic Empowerment; Prosperity and Progress for All”. ENDS