30 Aug 2018

The chairperson of National Vision 2036 says Botswana has to make deliberate decisions and choices, some painful, to be economically competitive.

Speaking during a Ministry of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology (MoTE) breakfast meeting with the private sector, in Gaborone August 30, Mr Neo Moroka noted with regret that the country had been regressive over the years.

He noted that Botswana had been declared upper middle class and risked going down to middle class if it did not take itself seriously,

Mr Moroka said Botswana had been closing off the much needed foreign businesses for the past couple of years because of its policies which were “unfriendly to investors.”

He noted that as the private sector and the Vision 2036 Council drivers, they were equally charged with the duty to ensure that the country positions itself as relevant and competitive to the world in terms of doing business.

He said workers from all sectors should be passionate about productivity and stop the notion of doing business as usual.

Mr Moroka, who is also board member of DeBeers, said the country should undergo a major transformation in its tertiary education and consequently pursue innovative and inspired sustainable economic development.

He however acknowledged that this could only be done through well-funded research and development by both the government and a strong willed private sector.

In the meantime, he said one of the four pillars of Vision 2036 called for sustainable economic development and therefore wondered whether the education the country was pursuing was relevant for economic production, which he said was there but not properly exploited, stressing “a country should envisage economic production that can compete globally”.

He regretted that while there were young and innovative minds in the country, which had produced innovation technology, the very same government and the population shunned such technology to the extent that those local innovators went to set up businesses in other countries such as Kenya and Namibia.

Mr Moroka said Rwanda, on the other hand, had moved past Botswana after benchmarking here.

Speaking at the same forum, permanent secretary at MoTE Dr Theophilus Mooko noted that they had been mandated to transform Botswana from a resource -based to knowledge- based economy.

The forum which was held under the theme: The role of private sector as a partner in research and development, attracted various captains of industry to come up with ways to make the economy competitive

Dr Mooko noted that technocrats should meaningfully interact and harness skills, which could make Botswana competitive in the world market, a move that would fulfil the ideal of prosperity for all and make a difference in the lives of the people.

He, however said the quality of education through research and development, would be put to the test and determined by what was offered to consumers.

The participants applauded the ministry for having spearheaded the meeting, noting that all that was needed was commitment by all sectors of the economy.

However, some noted that there was no need for further research as it was readily available, but because of lack of national research management system, it appeared that nothing had been done.

Meanwhile, assistant minister in the ministry, Mr Fidelis Molao said every sector should come out of its comfort zone and invest ideas that could produce tangible products.

He said the country had many tertiary institutions but not many of them were producing tangible innovative products.

Mr Molao said as a way forward, among other encouragements, there should be some incentives for companies to support and fund research and development innovative concepts that could grow the economy. ENDS