13 Aug 2017

Botswana’s first ever Banking and Wealth Exposition will be held from November 15-18, this year at Ditshupo Hall under the theme: Bridging the inclusion gap through financial literacy.

 The four-day event is organised by Bankers Association of Botswana (BAB) and the Botswana Institute of Bankers (BIOB).

Briefing the media last Friday about the objective of the expo, BIOB executive director, Ms Lydia Andries said it aimed to create awareness about the financial sector and educate the public in terms of the tools that were available for them to leverage up to create their own wealth.

She further said they aim to take financial services and products to the masses.

“That is the reason why we are bringing all these financial services sector under one roof for the public to be able to have a dialogue, and meaningful conversation with them in an effort to understand what is it that they offer, how is it relevant to me as an individual, and how will it help my family looking at the various options that are in the market,” Ms Andries said.

She further said they aim to bring regulators and authorities in the financial services sector together with other industry stakeholders to dialogue on policy issues with the aim to create a conducive business environment for the financial services sector.

“It is our belief that where there is dialogue there are very meaningful resolutions that are going to come out of that that will be able to create an environment whereby all stakeholders involved will be able to benefit from the financial services sector,” she added.

She said a well-developed financial services sector could play a meaningful role in diversifying the economy from being anchored on the diamond industry to being a service oriented economy, adding that expo was a good initiative to achieve the development.

Ms Andries said activities during the expo would include presentations and workshops where stakeholders within the various financial services sectors would be able to engage and have dialogue together with the public.

On day three, students from various schools would come on board to appreciate the value of the financial services sector and introduce them to careers in the sector, she said.

Furthermore, she explained that on day four the public would have an opportunity to interact with various exhibitors by visiting stalls.

The chief executive officer of Bankers Association of Botswana (BAB), Mr Oabile Mabusa said the “expo is part of a much bigger agenda of promoting financial inclusion and access to transform livelihoods.”

He said financial inclusion played a pivotal role in enabling access to wealth and achieving economic development, hence the G20 countries adopted a resolution encouraging and promoting financial inclusion.

Furthermore, he said the United National placed financial access and inclusion at the top of development strategies. Ends