13 Feb 2020

Government and Botswana National Productivity Centre have been hailed for their commitment towards improving productivity which is plummeting in both the private sector and government.

Addressing participants during a productivity and competitiveness seminar on stakeholder inclusiveness in Palapye on Tuesday, BNPC regional manager, Mr Tshenolo Mapitse said it called for individuals, companies, the private sector and government employees’ introspection and to come up with solutions on how to improve productivity in Botswana

He said one of the solutions was how to improve the disturbing high rate of unemployment by transforming the work culture and to come up with ideas on how best the country could be taken to the top as it was now ranking 91 from 141 global competitiveness performance overview.

Mr Mapitse said in the business sectors the main aim was to close the gap so that they could achieve targets and results.

He said as productivity researchers, they were intending to come up with solutions and training programmes while other sectors as stakeholders were to identify challenges and come up with implementation strategies.

Another speaker, BNPC consultant, Mr Letsogile Batsetswe said sustainable economic growth emanated from productivity by looking at the 12 pillars of the key areas of competitiveness and also focusing on critical points that moved the country forward. He said it required all stakeholders to work together.

He said existing businesses should learn to work together for better results and for creation of employment, adding that working in isolation won’t benefit the country in productivity.

The consultant said results had shown that Sub-Saharan Africa was the least competitive region, which affected the country’s economic stability and control of inflation rate.

He said BNPC had realised that innovation capacity in the was very low.

Mr Batsetswe said the country needed a holistic approach to improve productivity and competitiveness,   emphasising the importance of clusters in development which, he said, they could also contribute towards productivity.

He added that it could also improve sharing of values, collaboration and understanding of the mandates of each other and even strengthen innovation.   

For her part, principal industrial officer from the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry, Ms Mmametsi Sitang said government, through her ministry, had engaged in various reforms to make doing business easy.

Ms Sitang said it was done to create and promote a conducive environment for investors and remove bottlenecks by standardising government procedures, processes and requirements.
She said her ministry allowed the business community to go online to access forms, adding that they have realised that most Batswana were not keen to use technology. ENDS