23 Apr 2017

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have been trumpeted as an important sector of the economy that plays a pivotal role in the creation of sustainable livelihoods for ordinary Batswana.
Speaking at the Botswana Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA) annual dinner dance held in Gaborone on  April 21, enterpreneur, Ms Kate Maphage said the SME sector affords many ordinary families a chance to earn a decent living.
“Imagine Botswana without the braiding, water melon selling, the bommaseapei cooking ladies, the sewing ladies and taxi drivers.  Each country in Africa has these buzzing hubs that reflect ordinary people making a living outside the formal sector,” she said.
Instead of living on what Ms Maphage called ‘spiritually disempowering handouts,’ many informal traders are able to generate income through SMEs and sustain their families, Ms Maphage said.
A founding executive of one of the country’s leading mobile telephony companies, Mascom Wireless, Ms Maphage is a corporate leader who currently serves as a board member of two corporate entities, Sechaba and RDC.
She said while working in various executive roles for Mascom, she was part of a team that ensured that small-scale businesses were developed.
“I had the experience of being involved in an industry that at the time had a turnover of a billion pula.  98 per cent of this industry was derived from the ordinary citizens of this country and we figured out that they were also, potentially our access to their market,” she said.
Such decisions went on to have a huge effect of creating livelihoods for many families countrywide, she said.
“This led to the birth of a huge direct and informal distribution network for our products.  Ordinary people like our housekeepers and industrious individuals could open a business without any major investment other that the cheapest mobile handset, a table or a chair,” she said. She added that the mobile telephone industry, which had three companies as major players, now had a turnover of P4 billion with partial benefit accruing to ‘nzamela’ or ‘di-units’ small-scale traders who sell airtime to consumers.
“It is important to remember the benefits that accrue to all other industries in the economy when the SME sector thrives.  Yet, the SME sector is beset with challenges, in the are of access to finance, poor quality of products, access to bigger markets and simple record keeping,” Ms Maphage said. She said that accountants could play a key role in assisting SMEs, as they were located in important financial institutions and departments and had the necessary skills required in turning small-scale entrepreneur’s ideas into flourishing businesses.
Meanwhile, BICA president, Mr Rudi Binedell said the accounting body had managed to increase their membership to 3 355 members by the end of December 2016, from 2 085 in 2015.
He further said they had drawn up a new strategic plan being implemented over the years 2017 to 2021, which included a stated aim of increasing the number of qualified, professional citizen chartered accountants. end