12 Mar 2020

The business community and individuals have been urged to make use of the Poverty Eradication Programme mobile application launched March 11 to access beneficiaries’ products.

Launching the application, Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Mr Kabo Morwaeng said it was a necessity because without effective marketing, products would not be able to penetrate the global market.

He explained that the application enabled potential buyers to directly link with producers as it provided their names and contacts, specific products as well as places of operation.

Producers would also realise value through import substitution as the country would now have reached a certain level of self-sufficiency, he said.

Developed by youth in collaboration with government, the application would in addition give potential customers a summary of business packages under the programme.

“I look forward to a time when this system will ultimately facilitate not only immediate connection with the beneficiaries, but will also facilitate online transactions between buyers and sellers. 

In other countries there are such platforms as e-bay and Alibaba. Those are the kind of heights we should reach for in future,” he said.

Minister Morwaeng implored Batswana to support the Buy Botswana campaign adding it was the only way government programmes’ beneficiaries could further improve the quality of their products.

The application, he said, presented a challenge to beneficiaries to up their game in order to meet ever rising customer expectations.

“Online products need to be properly packaged, branded, and to be of the right quality. I call upon product suppliers to fully understand the importance of growing and maintaining an image. They must be consistently at their best and truthful in their dealings with online customer,” he said.

Expressing similar sentiments,  presidential affairs, governance and public administration assistant minister, Mr Dumezweni Mthimkhulu urged beneficiaries to intensify marketing of their products and improve packaging.

Success of products depended on the extent to which they could be noticed by customers, he pointed out.

He said the application should broaden the market base for beneficiaries’ products owing to the wide use of mobile telephony in Botswana.

Meanwhile Permanent Secretary to the President Mr Elias Magosi has encouraged captains of industry and government departments to engage young people’s technological savviness to find solutions.

He said the application was one such example.

“There are so many problems within government which youth can solve and with their energy, we can do so much to improve our country,” he added.

Poverty Eradication Programme national coordinator, Mr Montshiwa Montshiwa said the application would enable businesses to digitally transform operations and enhance agility.

 He said the application was put in place to facilitate better marketing of poverty eradication products.

“It is my hope that the business community and indeed individuals will make use of this innovation in order to access beneficiary products,” he said.

The application, he said,  provided a brief about poverty eradication guidelines, offices that could be approached for assistance and all packages provided.

“What is more exciting is that it is interactive and one can ask questions,” he said.

Mr Montshiwa said the youth who developed the application would be making money from the platform and not paid by government. Ends