07 Mar 2021

Business Botswana (BB) and Botswana National Productivity Centre (BNPC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to formalise their partnerships.

Speaking during the signing of the MoU on Friday, Business Botswana chief executive officer, Mr Norman Moleele said the agreement was a significant milestone in ongoing collaborations between the two organisations.

Mr Moleele said Business Botswana with the assistance of the United Nations Development Programme Botswana had developed a five-year private sector recovery plan.

“The objective of the plan is to build back better with the private sector acting as the driving force,” he said.

He noted that the plan was aligned to the Business Botswana strategic plan of 2018-2023 and that it foresaw several transformations in the private sector to help the objective.

He said the objectives resonated with BNPC’s mandate as well as Vision 2036 strategic objectives.

Mr Moleele said through the MoU they intended enhancing the private sector’s ambition to become an engine of growth.

“We are confident that through the MoU the private sector will take on the responsibility of contributing more effectively to the country’s sustainable growth,” he said.

Mr Moleele said they would assist BNPC by facilitating access to industry data and statistics, supporting it in the collection of data such as the World Economic Forum (WEF) and International Institute for Management Development.

He said Business Botswana shared challenges faced by the private sector and that BNPC’s interventions could help improve productivity at various levels.

“BB will assist and facilitate BNPC in searching for placement opportunities for trainers at Business Botswana organisation,” he said.

Mr Moleele said the private sectors role had not only been operational in terms of constructive dialogue and engagement, but had also been engaged by the government in key developmental studies and policy formation.

He further said the private sector through Business Botswana had been instrumental in improving doing business and competitive environments.

Regardless of Business Botswana’s efforts to improve business, Mr Moleele said Botswana had not been doing well on the global competitiveness index.

Botswana, he said, ranked 91 out of 141 countries, stating that with the adversities brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, they anticipated a slump in the rankings and loss of jobs.

For his part, BNPC chief executive officer, Mr Christopher Diswai noted that the five year MoU objectives included collaboration in a meaningful and measurable manner to improve national productivity and competitiveness.

He noted that recognising the role of business in improving national productivity and competitiveness, the government structure of the centre had always included business.

Mr Diswai also noted that BNPC and Business Botswana used to jointly facilitate the improvement of the customer service in the country through initiatives such as training and joint national service conferences and awards.

He further noted that the new five year relationship would broaden collaboration between them and BB. He said it would cover the participation of the private sector in national and international productivity and competitiveness initiatives, joint project delivery, internships and study missions.

“BNPC is currently researching to provide up-to-date information to guide the improvement of productivity and competitiveness,” he said.

Mr Diswai also said they had partnered with the International Management Development Institute and WEF to use their instruments in the measurement collection exercise, stating that they required the participation of the private sector. ENDS