07 Nov 2016

Government has established structures to ensure that the quality of trainees and relevance of learning programmes match needs of the labour market.

Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Mr Vincent Seretse said this at ABM graduation ceremony, where 746 students graduated on diploma and degree programmes.

Mr Seretse said ABM University College would continue to offer the broad possibilities that existed in the world of business and investment as well as stimulating the student’s appetite for venturing into business.

He said, “I am informed that ABM University College’s core business proposition was teaching its students that they could be entrepreneurs and in order to foster the entrepreneurship spirit, a number of initiatives had been put in place, including securing a place to act as centre on entrepreneurship and commissioning of research based solutions to entrepreneurship at several microeconomic levels.”

The minister noted that the institution was setting up infrastructure for business students to ensure that students learn real life experiences and entrepreneurship, adding that the interventions were in the fields of agriculture and lifestyle enterprising interventions such as hairdressing, sports and others.

He said as per the theme for today’s graduation ceremony ‘Diversifying the economy through entrepreneurial development,’ government has a consistent history of making efforts to diversify the economy, citing the economic diversification which acts as the center piece for diversification strategies.

Mr Seretse said government has put in place measures to diversify the economy, which include diversification strategy, special economic zones, privatization policy, Botswana excellence strategy, economic empowerment policy, research science, technology and innovation policies.

He said in recognition of the fact that more enterprises were created, it was more likely that diversification could be achieved, adding that government has also come up with the National Entrepreneurship Policy and Strategy (NEPS) for Botswana to deliberate a set of interventions by government aimed at encouraging both the spirit of enterprise and mobilise resources needed for the realisation of such.

“Amongst its many aims and objectives are the creation of an enabling environment for entrepreneurship education, promotion of SMMEs and integration on entrepreneurship development into the national policy frameworks amongst others,” he said.

He implored the graduates to enjoy themselves and there after focus on being the best that they could be, whether in formal employment or as self-employed individuals.

In her welcome remarks, the ABM University College executive director, Ms Daisy Molefhi said the college has been educating the nation of Botswana for the past 27 years and continued to strive towards excellence and improving the quality of education in the country.

She said, “2016 was a very special year for the country, as in September 2016, Botswana celebrated 50 years of independence and ABM University College was honoured to have been a part of these celebrations,” she said.

She said the institution was also chosen to be one of the recipients of the roving torch, an event that was hosted with a lot of excitement as Botswana acknowledged the huge transformation and education system over the last 27 years of ABM University Colleges’ participation in the sector.

She said in terms of their product line and service delivery they fell under the Ministry of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology, adding that in terms of their strategic focus, Ministry of Investment Trade and Industry was their parent ministry for entrepreneurship development.

Ms Molefhi said they were excited to have participated in the discussions of the draft policy on entrepreneurship, which would create a framework in which they could effectively drive their mandate as an institution, focusing on entrepreneurship development as a key differentiating factor between them and other institutions of similar nature.

He pointed out that in terms of their strategic thrusts; their institution was focused on four areas of institutional growth, academic excellence, organisational excellence and stakeholder involvement.

To graduates, she said ABM was greatly proud of their achievements as it had been a long road that might have proved difficult at times, but through hard work, determination, perseverance and dedication, they successfully completed their studies.

She implored them to explore opportunities to their future, and advise them not only limit themselves to seeking employment, nor to the local labour market, ‘as they believe that, they have prepared them adequately to face the future with confidence.’

Ms Molefhi advised them to explore the global market to create employment for themselves and fellow citizens. ENDS