10 Jul 2019

Good corporate governance is essential for enterprises, people and ideas to thrive in the country, says  Bona Life CEO, Ms Reginah Sikalesele-Vaka.

Ms Sikalesele-Vaka was the guest speaker at the three-day 5th Biennial International Conference on Business Innovation and Growth organised by UB’s Faculty of Business, on July 9. 

“If a country does not have good corporate governance, eventually everything is going to fall apart. Good corporate governance is important in the world of an entrepreneur as it is the drawing point that shows whether an environment is supportive for enterprise and for people and ideas to thrive,’ she said.

However, she said some things could threaten and challenge good corporate governance within the country, translating to poor corporate governance within institutions. These, she said included issues of poor, or lack of, ethics, morality, professionalism, accountability, leadership and vision. 

In today’s world, she said entrepreneurship was important because as the art of making something out of nothing, it could help to transform and change the lives of people. 

“Entrepreneurship starts with an idea, but it goes beyond an idea, because it should be a creative idea that is serving a purpose and can be identified as an opportunity that is life changing and can change the world,” she said.

Secondly, she said innovation was key to entrepreneurship, which she explained, goes beyond technology, as it included ideas and different ways of doing and looking at things.

“So innovation is also extremely key, as it is what sets everything apart. But, good corporate governance is key as it is essentially about effective leadership characterised by ethical values of; responsibility, accountability, fairness and transparency,” she added.

In his official opening remarks, UB acting vice chancellor (Academic Affairs) and Professor of Economics, Prof. Happy Siphambe said today’s world was challenged with many and complex problems that required all to generate new ideas and ways of entrepreneurship.

He said there was need for new methods of doing things, modalities of delivering services and ways of producing products and re-engineering our processes for efficiency and effectiveness.

Therefore, he said the conference should provide a platform for sharing entrepreneurship ideas, new methods, new innovations, challenges and how the same could be averted to stay afloat.

“As much as emerging economies are desirable and encouraged we cannot ignore the competition they already naturally impose on the already shrinking markets and limited space that we have been operating and living in,” he added.  

Ideas, new methods and new innovation alone, Prof. Siphambe said would not move the country, but needed to be carefully, deliberately and cautiously translated into action for the betterment of the society. 

Beyond novelty of ideas, he said entrepreneurship served as a source for job creation, and therefore must have some welfare effect. He noted that in Botswana,  entrepreneurship was the cornerstone of government policies and a key part of the achievement Vision 2036 goals- relating to doing business in Botswana.

Given that the economy of Botswana faced a variety of challenges due to long standing dependence on natural resources, he said ‘innovations and new ideas are needed to drive the economic transformation, beyond today’. 

He further stated that  government was also worried about transforming the economy to the extent that President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi had set up a high level team, the National Transformation Strategy Team, to help in the transformation of this economy.

When welcoming participants, UB’s Faculty of Business dean, Prof. Onkutlwile Othata, said the conference came at a time where many economies, Botswana’s included, were battling with challenges such as youth unemployment, domestic structural issues and widening social inequality.

“Innovative breakthrough has resulted in goodies, such as cheap and easy communication, drone deliveries, hybrid and self-driving cars, robotic surgeries. But, unfortunately, if not managed properly, innovations and entrepreneurship can bring dangers to both itself, economies and mankind,” he said.

As an example, Prof. Othata said today's societies were grappling with issues which emanated from innovation, such as crime tourism, cyber security, pyramid schemes and other financial scams, sophisticated weapons and unprecedented drug addiction, which were all results of innovation and entrepreneurship.

“So, conferences such as this one, bring together brains from different fields and industries to advance knowledge on good innovation and entrepreneurship and also to advance knowledge on understanding the negative impacts of innovation and entrepreneurship,” he added. 

Themed; Business Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Accountability, Challenges and Competitiveness in Changed and Emerging Economies, the conference was organised by UB’s Faculty of Business to provide a platform for debating issues of accountability, contemporary, challenges and competiveness on business innovation and entrepreneurship in emerging economies.

It was also meant to reflect on future of sustainable growth in emerging economies, as well as create an environment for learning and networking. ENDS