09 Sep 2018

Francistown City Council mayor, Ms Sylvia Muzila has urged poverty eradication beneficiaries to do different kinds of businesses in order to have a better market for their products.

Speaking during a poverty eradication exposition for Francistown and North East Districts in Francistown recently, she said doing one kind of business would saturate their market and eventually lower their profit margin.

“Your main aim should be finding a market for yourselves in order to grow, therefore it is important for you to be unique, when another beneficiary is making shoes for example, the other must do socks in order to share business,” she added.

At first, she noted that the programme focused on empowering women, as most of them through researches, were found to be the ones who were left home with children and poverty stricken.

She said government also accommodated men who also wanted to make a better living but did not have start-up resources and commended the beneficiaries for their efforts in striving to change their lives for the better and for meeting the government halfway, saying they must never let challenges stand in their way.

“We understand the cry from our fashion industry that Chinese shops sell the traditional cloth (leteise) at lower prices, in turn taking all customers, but let me add to that, quality will always standout. Never give up,” she added. She further encouraged them not to compromise on quality and continued being the best fashion designers in order to compete with those of low quality clothes.

Botswana Savings Bank (BSB) Francistown branch manager, Mr Maxwell Masuku encouraged beneficiaries to unite and encourage each other to grow.

He noted that Small Micro Medium Enterprises contributed a lot in building the economy of the country and should understand that by taking part in doing businesses, they were not only improving their lives but the economy of the country too.

Mr Masuku encouraged beneficiaries to use modern technology as times had changed, adding they must be able to penetrate the market in all forms.

“Advertising as a form of penetrating the market and selling your product is crucial in every business, therefore in the modern world, digital is highly used as it is faster and reaches many people in a short period. I urge you to use it,” he said. He added that businesses at times do have challenges but it was up to the entrepreneur to make sure they strive against the odds and make their products appealing to the consumers.

Furthermore, he urged them to have savings account in order to save their profits to have a record of whether the business is doing well or not.

Ms Metinah Kale, one of the beneficiaries who was funded in 2016 to make jam, commended government for giving her the opportunity to live a better life as she has managed to get Botswana Bureau of Standards (BOBS) certificate and her business has boomed. ENDS