15 May 2020

Registration of informal businesses is progressing well, says the CEO of the Local Enterprises Authority (LEA) Dr Racious Moatshe.

 Speaking at a media briefing in Gaborone on May 15, Dr Moatshe said since the commencement of informal businesses registration on May 12, his organisation has registered 46 441 businesses.

The aim of registering the informal businesses is to know the exact number of such businesses and how much they contribute to the country’s Gross Domestic Product.
Dr Moatshe said the registration data would also enable the organisation to know how the businesses were assisting in the creation of employment, and their contribution towards the import substitution. 

He said the collected data would advise LEA if it would be advisable to convince the government to close borders for certain products that could be produced locally.

The CEO said due to the lockdown, registration was electronic via mobile phones services at a minimum cost of 25 thebe per SMS.

Regarding the prompt survey that they carried out to establish the extent to which the COVID-19 affected the SMMEs, Dr Moatshe said they sampled 382 of such businesses in various sectors such as agriculture, tourism, manufacturing and services.

 He said the four sectors, which had a staff compliment of 2 669 and a wage bill of P5.9 million, were seriously affected, tourism being the hardest hit.

For his part, statistician general, Dr Burton Mguni said they were working closely with LEA to come up with a register book for informal businesses, which he said would be used to provide statistics to investors intending to invest in Botswana.

Dr Mguni said the register book would be electronically updated to cater for new entrants and dropouts in the business spheres as well as guide the government in its plans with readily available data. Ends