14 Oct 2015

Botswana Postal Services, trading under the name BotswanaPost, is determined to realise its dream of becoming a competitive and profitable entity in the postal business if all goes according to plan.

Briefing members of the Parliamentary Committee on Statutory Bodies at its ongoing sitting recently, the chief executive officer of BotswanaPost, Mr Cornelius Ramatlhakwana said the company has been undergoing strategic transformation geared towards attaining profit in this tight market which is characterised by technology and stiff competition.   

He however said for the company to realise its dream, it will have to address pertinent operational challenges such as ICT, human resource capacity building and good customer service approach among others. He however said Botswana Post needs to be adequately funded to achieve this milestone target.  

Nevertheless, Mr Ramatlhakwana, who recently took over from Mr Pele Moleta, said for them to realise their intended target they should have adequately trained staff personnel with the necessary tools which are compatible to current market business.

During the year under review (2014), the greatest challenge for Botswana Post from a financial perspective was its dependence on external funding as a result of not receiving government subventions to replenish its working capital that has been historically committed to different capital projects that should have been funded by the shareholder. 

This high gearing has translated into increased financial costs. Nevertheless, the CEO, observes that Botswana Post continued to reinvent itself and adjust to the challenging business landscape in 2013-14.  

In the current year Botswana Post registered a loss of P33.8 million compared to P76.3 million in the previous year. Revenue was up by 44 per cent from P214 million in 2012-2013 to P309 million whilst Gross Profit increased by P4 million. This positive growth id however attributed to considerable growth in agency and business income despite a decline in the traditional business of both bulk and regular mail revenue.

Botswana Post is on target to become a P500 million revenue company by 2016 with a cost to income ratio of 60%, that being Big Hairy Audacious Goal. Progress towards this goal is steady with revenues of P465 million budgeted for 2014-2015 and P503 million for 2015-2016. Ends