04 Jul 2018

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry signed a programme document in January this year that seeks to address economic diversification and unemployment challenges facing Botswana.

Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry, Ms Peggy Serame said this programme focused on three main areas being Policy Design, Policy Implementation as well as Policy Monitoring and Evaluation.

Speaking at the Business Supplier Development Programme Launch, Ms Serame said the commencement of the programme was a welcome development for the government, but mostly the private sector as it marked yet another milestone aimed at positively transforming the landscape of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Botswana.

She said that through the programme, local consultants would be trained to deliver capacity building interventions for SMEs as well as linking them with the suppliers.

The programme aimed to create demand-based, market-driven opportunities for SMEs to increase their competitiveness; he said adding that through the programme methodology, small-scale producers/suppliers would be connected to larger markets locally and abroad.

She however noted that the programme would strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the country to encourage innovation and create employment. It will at the same time promote participation of local SMEs in the supply chains through development of value chains in five priority sectors being Mining, Agro-processing, Leather, Projects (infrastructure) and Textiles.

“SMEs are known to possess the ability to create a sizeable number of jobs in any economy and with their numbers and diversity, they can play a vital role in achieving economic diversification, employment creation and poverty eradication,” she said.

Almost all private sector job creation has come in non-tradable services sectors, with the manufacturing sector shedding jobs and construction sector being stagnant, she said.

According to World Bank Country Diagnostics, she said, the formal private sector in Botswana created on average just over 3 000 jobs per year, over the period 2003 to 2010, far below the level needed to absorb the 15 000-20 000 annual new entrants to the labour market.

While the pace of growth of non-farm self-employment has increased in recent years, she said it still accounts for 23 per cent of private sector employment and 10 per cent of all employment.

Ms Serame said the objective of Supplier Development Programme would enable SMEs to build and expand their productive capacity, efficiency and quality of products to supply larger companies through targeted capacity building interventions.

She added that ‘the programme is a good initiative to augment other efforts to continuously support local enterprises in achieving competitiveness.’ENDS