16 Nov 2014

There is no need to abandon the country’s second city to seek economic success in Gaborone. 

These sentiments echoed consistently from panelists during the St Louis Export Unplugged Crystal Chats in Francistown on Friday, November 14. 

The chats give a platform to some of the country’s most inspirational and influential young citizens to share inspirational stories on their road to success.  The chats, the first ever outside Gaborone, also gave the youth advice on knowing the importance of one’s worth as a key ingredient to a fruitful life and career.

 For the Francistown chats, three northern city based businesses, the Voice, Ngwana Enterprises, and the Stafix Group, shared with the mostly young audience their journey in business, the challenges and opportunities they faced and how they managed to overcome the challenges.

 Ngwana Enterprises chief executive officer, Mr Mooketsi Tekere informed the audience that the core mandate of his business, founded in Francistown, was to teach children relevant entrepreneurial skills using modern technologies, as well as teach them to believe in themselves.

 Mr Tekere’s company, he noted, had developed technological solutions, which students can use to learn Mathematics and languages in the comfort of their homes.  He also said that currently it is difficult for such systems to be introduced in mainstream schools because of lack of the right infrastructure.

 “Our technological solutions are currently accessible at our lab by people who can pay for the service, but our wish is to have every child accessing it.  We have also partnered with a US company to develop technology that can be uploaded to any computer,” he noted.

 Mr Tekere mentioned that travelling, networking and learning from some developed countries had assisted a lot in developing his entrepreneurial skills.  He criticised people who always advised him to move to Gaborone if he wanted to be successful, saying this kind of attitude had led to the underdevelopment of Francistown. 

A majority of people, he noted, do not understand what an entrepreneur is, adding that there are many entrepreneurs in Francistown who only needed support, not relocation to other places. 

“There is need for a mindset change and we need to endeavour to instill the entrepreneurial spirit in children. There are lots of resources within the city and Ngwana Enterprises is ready to assist youth to thrive in business through exhibitions,” he added. 

For his part, the director of the Stafix Group, Mr Lawrence Arden, whose business was also born in Francistown and specialises in electric fencing and security, said he had been in business for the last 12 years. He noted that the support that he got from Francistowners has been phenomenal as most of them are loyal and value good service. 

Training, he added, was very important in his line of business; he has given an opportunity to a lot of young people, some of whom had finished junior certificate or senior secondary school. 

Some have gone on to establish their own companies. However, he said one of the things that he would like to see happening in the country was decentralisation of services away from Gaborone. 

Mr Arden said that Francistown had a lot of potential to grow and thus he urged young people to be on the lookout for opportunities within the northern city.  “Francistown is regressing because all the talented people who were born and educated here have left for Gaborone to seek opportunities there,” he explained. 

This kind of migration, Mr Arden said, had put a lot of strain in Gaborone as currently there were serious challenges of water and electricity there.  Mining, he explained, was an industry where only a few people can participate. 

This, he said, called for young people in Francistown to come up with business ideas and seek assistance from those who are already in business.  The Voice newspaper, represented by news editor, Mr Chedza Simon, also had the opportunity to share its journey story.

 Mr Simon explained that as a paper that originates from the city, The Voice gave him and other young people the opportunity to learn the ropes of the media industry. He explained that the paper owed its success to the support of Francistowners, who have stood by the paper since its inception. 

This, he said, was evidence that the city has potential and is open for business.  Currently, he explained that the paper, which is now national, has a circulation of 30 000 weekly. The Voice, Mr Simon explained, had given the youth the platform to talk about taboo subjects such as sex and abuse.

 He also noted that they were proud that a news paper from Francistown had become the most sought after product around the country because of its objective of provoking debates.  All the three panelists informed the audience that their organisations continued to give young people, who lack experience, the platform to learn entrepreneurship. ENDS