01 Dec 2016

Beneficiaries of the alternative packages under the poverty eradication programme have been advised to exercise patience, passion and learn to share ideas if they are serious about their businesses.

Officially opening the week long workshop organised to inculcate business skills on the beneficiaries, the Letlhakeng Sub District Council chairperson, Cllr Tlotlo Batlhophi advised the recipients that they compete for the same market as any other businesses and therefore should learn to swim rather than depend on government assistance all the time.

He said therefore ideas such as partnerships, especially for projects doing similar or related businesses should be considered rather than competing for a small market.

“Most of our villages in the area are small and cannot sustain many similar projects, so you should consider partnerships as they can also help you advocate with one voice for any assistance that you may need from government,” he said.

Cllr Batlhophi also raised concerns about beneficiaries of various government assisted projects that abandon projects at first sight of challenges such as loss of profit, saying that challenges are part and parcel of any business and cannot be skirted.

Cllr Batlhophi also encouraged the beneficiaries to always share challenges and successes with government officials who visit as this would help them appreciate the prosperity or failures and come up with plans on further assistance.

For her part, the Poverty Eradication Project Officer, Ms Esther Buzwani said the workshop was meant to instill basic business skills such as pricing on beneficiaries as they have never received such since they were trained on different trades.

She further said that the workshop was also meant to provide beneficiaries with a platform to share challenges and successes they encounter in their businesses as well as come up with ways in which they and the Department of Social and Community Services could assist each other.

She also encouraged the recipients to always work hard to market their business rather than just depend on the office to seek markets for them.

Giving an overview of the alternative packages programme in the sub district, she said that they have a total of 370 beneficiaries in the Letlhakeng-Lephepe constituency, of which 221 have already been trained while 105 are still awaiting training. She said the rest are still pending as beneficiaries are still uncertain of projects they want to undertake.

For Takatokwane constituency, she said the total number of beneficiaries stands at 351.

For his part, Councillor for Mantshwabisi-Serinane, Mr Meshack Tshenyego advised the beneficiaries that government spends a lot of money on funding them, and therefore they should work hard to ensure their projects become a success. He said failure of the projects would mean that government funds had been wasted.

He also encouraged them that such opportunities as funding from government may come once in a while, and therefore those who had been lucky to be funded should make it worthwhile. ENDS