14 Feb 2016

The Ministry of Trade and Industry recognises the important role played by the Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs), as a source of livelihood for different segments of the society, especially the rural poor.

The trade and industry assistant minister, Advocate Sadique Kebonang said this when responding to a question in Parliament from Francistown East MP, Mr Buti Billy.

Advocate Kebonang said he was also aware of the various challenges facing the SMMEs, mainly related to lack of competitiveness and inability to compete with big companies.

In an effort to address this concern, Advocate Kebonang said government approved the SMME Policy in 1998, whose main objective was to establish an integrated approach to SMMEs support and also create an enabling environment for them to grow.

“My ministry took a decision to adopt a holistic approach to the development of the SMMEs and develop a comprehension policy that will support their growth,” he said.

“In this regard, my ministry has concluded the development of the National Entrepreneurship Policy for Botswana, which is expected to be submitted to the National Assembly before end of this year,” he added.

Its main objective, he said, was to inculcate the entrepreneurship culture into SMMEs, so that they could learn and adopt existing and new entrepreneurship traits and skills of globally successfully entrepreneurs. Furthermore, he said the policy aimed to address the challenges of entrepreneurship faced by SMMEs.

In addition, Advocate Kebonang said the Competition Policy and Competition Act 2009 had been enacted to create a free and fair trade environment to allow all businesses irrespective of size to compete on the basis of price, quality and service delivery.

The Competition Act, he said addressed, amongst others, the various forms of abuse and monopoly or dominance, such as predatory pricing, price collusion by big players, vertical and horizontal agreements.

“Therefore, any suspicions of unfair competition are reported to the Competition Commission for assessment and possible litigation,” he added.

Furthermore, he said the ministry had reserved certain activities under the Trade Act and Industrial Development Act, and the Guidelines for SMMEs, all of which aimed to support the growth of SMMEs.

MP Billy wanted to know if the assistant minister would consider coming up with policies that could protect SMMEs against big companies that monopolise the market.  Ends