10 Sep 2017

The Assistant Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Mr Biggie Butale has urged Ngamiland communities to venture into sustainable businesses which will contribute meaningfully to the growth of the country’s economy.

Addressing a kgotla meeting to sensitise residents about his ministry’s mandate and services offered, he said residents could take advantage of  opportunities availed by government and start successful businesses.

He said that his ministry played a critical role in the country’s economy and was responsible for the promotion and attraction of both domestic and foreign productive investments in the industrial and commercial sectors.

Mr Butale said it was unfortunate that in the  district, most of residents wanted to operate lodges and yet there were other tourism activities which they could tap into such  as cultural activities.

In addition, Mr Butale said that the district was a tourism hub and explained that  government intended to do special economic zoning to grow the tourism sector.

Furthermore, Mr Butale  encouraged residents to utilise services from parastatals such as Local Enterprise Authority, Citizen Entrepreneurship Development Agency, and Botswana Development Corporation which he said could assist in boosting their businesses.

Mr Butale informed the gathering that efforts had been made to formulate policies that encouraged citizen participation in the development and economic activities citing the Citizen Economic Empowerment Policy (CEE) which aimed to foster an equitable distribution of income and wealth to improve citizens’ quality of life.

The policy called for equal participation of government and private sector in the process in order to achieve citizen empowerment targets.

“We do not want the locals to be spectators in the  growth of the country’s  economy hence the importance of the policy that would promote citizens  participation in the mainstream of the economy,” he added.

Furthermore, Mr Butale explained that government had started land zoning in order to attract more investors and promote citizen involvement.

He cited the leather industry envisaged for Lobatse town.

 He noted some residents had brilliant ideas but were discouraged to explore them because they felt officers were unhelpful.

The assistant minister   encouraged them to persevere so as to achieve their dreams against all odds.

He said running a business was not an easy task. “It needs passion, commitment and determination in order to flourish,” he adviced.

The government, he said wish to see more locally made products penetrating the export market.

For their part, residents appreciated available government initiatives in place but complained that implementation remained a challenge.

They also noted that bureaucratic process and some policies and guidelines in establishing a business denied them the opportunity to benefit from the initiatives.

The residents therefore suggested to government to be flexible and simplify the policies.

Kgosi Prince Shashe said there had been delays  in implementation of initiatives due to what he termed  laxity from public officers and suggested that  government should  engage expatriates on contract to drive the implementation.

He believed that they could do better than the public officers who always frustrated efforts made by the locals without reason.

The chairperson of Umbrella Village Development Committee, Mr Moronga Dimbo said some locals made efforts to start projects but market and space were major challenges.

He requested the assistant minister to assist small entrepreneurs with marketing strategy.  ENDS