26 Jul 2020

Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (BUAN), has developed a 12 month agriprenuer incubation programme to equip its graduates with entrepreneurial skills to make them ready for employment in the private and public sector or for self-employment.

In an interview, Acting Director for the Centre of In-service and Continuing Education Dr Israel Legwaila  said  that  the programme was coordinated in conjunction with the Local Enterprise Authority (LEA).

He said the university provided mostly technical expertise in the fields of agriculture and natural resources while LEA provided business support and mentorship.

He said through the programme, participants were expected to apply their knowledge and skills gained from academic programmes they graduated from at BUAN and further harness their entrepreneurial skills.

Dr Legwaila noted that as part of the selection process, participants were also expected to submit business proposals to request for an interest free loan of up to P100 000 from the university to undertake any business in agriculture and natural resources.

He said to date, graduates have embarked in broiler production, vegetable production, herbs production, mushroom production and piggery.

 Additionally, he said besides providing a loan facility, the university also provided participants with  accommodation,  land, utilities for the projects, equipment and several other resources to use at no cost .
Dr Legwaila said while in the programme, participants were encouraged and assisted to migrate their businesses outside the university once the 12 months elapsed.

He said upon exiting from the programme, they were given the profits accrued from their projects with the intention to help them to migrate their businesses outside the University.

“As graduates keeps paying back the loan, some of the profits are saved and given to them when the 12 months elapse and when there is a clean record that payments were done accordingly,” he said.

“Since the inception of the programme in 2010, 31 graduates have benefited from the programme making it an average of four participants intake per year,” he noted.

Dr Legwaila further said that some of the beneficiaries who had taken part in the program had managed to produce good quality products that penetrated the local market. ENDS