30 Jan 2020

Youth in Tsabong have been urged to view the Forbes under 30 Africa Summit as a platform to showcase quality products and services to the broader market.

Ministry of Investment Trade and Industry (MITI) principal programmes officer Ms Ntebogang Mokgatle revealed during a recent entrepreneurship workshop held for the youth in Tsabong where various departments under the ministry presented their services.

She encouraged the youth to take advantage of the presence of 600 young entrepreneurs across the world who will participate in the summit penciled for Gaborone on April from 19 to 23.

Ms Mokgatle said the Forbes Africa summit recognised Botswana as an emerging hub for global growth and entrepreneurial progress.

The move, she said, recognised Botswana as an emerging center for entrepreneurship, start-up acceleration and innovation thus young people should gear up and put on the table what they could offer.

She urged the youth to roll up their sleeves and take advantage of the historic opportunity to showcase world class, quality products and services.

Moreover, Ms Mokgatle encouraged young entrepreneurs to use technology at their disposal such as smartphones to conduct business as the internet was the heartbeat of global business.

She said if young people could make use of resources in their locality, produced quality products and services coupled with technology, it would help curb rural urban migration and thus fast-track developments to create employment opportunities in remote areas.

She highlighted that government programmes and policies including the youth fund were available nationwide and therefore the youth had no excuse for not thriving in business. She added that there were youth officers in every ministry, encouraging young people to seek their assistance.

The objective of the workshop was to facilitate the development of self-sustaining and competitive industries through dynamic policies and programmes. To achieve that, the ministry moved around the country to facilitate youth entrepreneurs on business.

They also sought to point out opportunities that existed at MITI that could help young people venture into business seamlessly.

Further, she informed the youth that government used her buying power to support local industries adding that youth entrepreneurs in Tsabong should find out what they could do to take advantage of this incentive.

She cautioned that young people should not be supported simply because of the incentives offered but because of the quality of their products and services they offered.

For his part, Botswana Investment and Trade Center (BITC) export promotion manager Mr Mpho Ketshabetswe said the organisation was tasked with investment promotion and attraction, export development and Promotion, business facilitation and as well as branding Botswana.

Mr Ketshabetswe said Botswana’s population stood at 2.26 million people and young people should take note of the population numbers when they produce.ENDS