24 Sep 2019

Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Ms Bogolo Kenewendo, has encouraged Batswana to support and promote local products.

She told her ministry’s market street day, held in collaboration with Operation Metlhala ya Khumo in Moshupa on Monday,  that Batswana were capable of creating quality products.

“We have realised returns of small business and local producers totaling P235 million on food parcels supported by shops such as Shoprite and Sefalana, while returns on clothes amounted to P260 million,” she said, adding that the figures were for the month of June this year.

The minister said she was pleased with shops that offered shelf space for some local products.

She said her ministry would continue to focus on ensuring the growth of small businesses.

“Currently we are in consultation with the private sector with the aim of encouraging and securing shelf space for products made from Botswana,” Ms Kenewendo said.

With regard to the challenges of those wishing to venture into small businesses, she said, they introduced a pre-project fund that offered assistance in terms of project facilitation.

“About P5 million has been injected into the fund. So far 22 companies assisted at the tune of P222 000 and the funds are available for usage,” she advised.

She said her ministry was working on simplifying the licensing procedures and improving issuance of business licences with the desire to improve the ease of doing business in Botswana.

Ms Kenewendo said the ministry was focused on implementing the transformation agenda as a way of bringing change and improving service.

She noted that they were also working at introducing the purposive apex model, which would focused on the provision of services and ensuring that all that they provide would be geared towards creating a conducive platform for their clients.

“So far our market street day has already been rolled out to Shakawe, Lethakane and Tsabong, and we are hoping to reach out and extending our services to other villages,” Ms Kenewendo said.

For his part, the Assistant Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Mr Karabo Gare, said their responsibility was to ensure growth in the transformation and diversification of the economy.

He said they believed that initiatives such as Operation Metlhala ya Khumo and Market Street Day could help towards achieving such milestones.

“We need to understand that we have challenges of unemployment, but we also have to understand that government cannot employ everyone, therefore entrepreneurship is one of the aspects that can reduce unemployment,” he said. Ends