05 Aug 2015

Ramotswa Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) Lobatse branch manager Ms Dulu Moaisi has encouraged entrepreneurs to be patient, dedicated and committed to their projects as that is the recipe for their success.

Speaking at the Lobatse Mini-Show held under the theme , Poverty Eradication: Empowering Lobatse Community to Sustainable Livelihoods, on Friday, Ms Moaisi urged entrepreneurs to focus on their projects and take care of them as they will take them far in life.

She encouraged the entrepreneurs to be innovative and benchmark more by engaging in corresponding courses in order to produce unique products that can even compete internationally adding that competition is high in every industry.

Ms Moaisi also urged entrepreneurs to take into consideration their customers’ feedback about their products and services which can help them improve their service delivery.

She advised entrepreneurs to take their projects seriously and separate personal accounts from businesses ones to avoid losses. She said opening a business account is very important as it helps to manage business finances properly. 

She said the day was important as it gave entrepreneurs the opportunity to market their products and services as well as share ideas on how to improve their businesses. 

Earlier on in his welcome remarks, Lobatse deputy mayor Mr Francis Mokwena, said the show was important as it gave the public a chance to witness how government programmes can help Batswana. 

He stated that despite the fact that government is faced with challenges it still takes initiative to introduce programmes such as Poverty Eradication, Youth funds and others to help Batswana out of poverty and the high rate of unemployment.

Mr Mokwena urged the entrepreneurs to nurture their projects so as to create employment for themselves and others, adding that it would be very sad to see the beneficiaries of these programmes relapse to poverty while they have been lucky to get assistance from government. 

For his part, Mr Keletshabile Maswabi told the gathering that he started his brick molding business in 2011 and was funded by the department of Youth, Sports and Culture. He stated that he went through challenges but with passion and determination he managed to stay in the business. 

He went on to say his business created permanent jobs for seven people and that he hopes to hire more as the business grows. He stressed that financial management is important in every business as availability of cash on a daily basis can be tempting. He said the misuse of such funds lead to failure. 

One of the objectives of the day was to promote and market locally produced goods and provide entrepreneurs with a forum where they can exchange business ideas and explore market opportunities. 

The day was also aimed at incorporating poverty eradication funded projects into the show as a way of promoting and marketing them as well as to encourage production of quality goods which can help penetrate national and international market. Ends