31 May 2016

Mayor of Francistown, Ms Sylvia Muzila, has undescored the need to have strong relations between all organs of the economy.

Speaking at a Botswana Accountancy College (BAC) stakeholder engagement dinner in Francistown on May 26, Ms Muzila, said BAC had provided a diversified business related product offered beyond finance and accounting professions to encompass international hospitality and tourism.

Ms Muzila said training institutions should continuously engage with industry and government departments to be better placed to develop programmes suitable for meeting market needs.

She said besides empowering an individual to make informed choices in life, education could contribute to sustainable economic growth, improved productivity of workforce as well as ability to adopt technology.

Ms Muzila said government had adopted Education and Training Sector Strategy Plan to address quality of existing Vocational Educational and Training Programme as a way of equipping youth with appropriate skills.

Ms Muzila explained that through their investment forum, they aim to promote and position Francistown as an investment destination for both national and foreign investors, to promote joint partnerships between the Francistown business community and those from other districts in Botswana, and within SADC region and other parts of the world.

Furthermore, she encouraged partnerships with both public and private entities to promote creation of jobs as government alone does not have capacity to satisfy the needs of everyone.

She said Economic Diversification Drive (EDD) is critical and as a country and city, they need to focus their efforts on sectors where there is a comparative advantage such as manufacturing, beef, tourism, financial service, mining and other natural resources as well as emerging areas of education and health services.

In her welcoming remarks, BAC executive director, Ms Serty Leburu, said the college strived to provide quality education designed to produce individuals who will not only be relevant to the market by being employable but will also create value to the extent of  being employers.

Ms Leburu said the importance of partnerships with industry, both private and public to facilitate EDD cannot be overemphasised.

She said to further stimulate job creation, government has adopted an accelerated programme for job creation focused on key areas, with a high potential for labour intensive economic growth. Ends