24 May 2021

Local company, PriceMate has epitomised efforts to bring government, private sector, local merchants together with consumers to envision a digital future for Botswana.

This was said by Minister of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology, Dr Douglas Letsholathebe during the launch of PriceMate website, an e-commerce platform aimed at giving consumers easy access and an opportunity to compare products as well as services across the country for free before they embark on shopping.

Dr Letsholathebe said in line with some of government’s continued efforts to harness technology as part of building a knowledge-based economy, it was reassuring to witness one of such start-ups skillfully and successfully develop a price comparison website that was not only for Batswana but developed by Batswana.

He highlighted that it was an exciting era to have a local innovator changing the landscape of shopping by using game changing ideas that made it easier for consumers to know where to find products and make online purchases at a click of a button.

“With technological advancement such as those provided by PriceMate, the country improves its status in terms of its ranking on the world digital stage,” he stated.

 He further applauded the team behind PriceMate for the efforts that had gone into developing the website into a tool that would benefit the market as a whole. He similarly commended Botswana Innovation Hub (BIH) for continuously supporting all types of innovations to realise their full potential.

“I trust that BIH will continue to support deserving enterprises as we embrace technologies that will bring social impact and economic growth,” he said.

Therefore, Dr Letsholathebe encouraged more merchants to utilise the PriceMate website to reach more consumers. For her part, PriceMate founder, Ms Poifo Pioncana expressed delight at the growth of PriceMate over the past years.

She said PriceMate was borne out of her love of scourging catalogue leaflets for foodstuff ‘specials’ that were distributed manually every month end.

That, she said,motivated her to create an online platform that would make a shopper’s experience easier and faster. “The journey started off in 2016 by inviting shops to post their specials leaflets on the PriceMate website and has since grown in leaps and bounds, boasting over 100 shops actively utilising the platform, “ she explained.

Ms Pioncana further stated that the advent of COVID-19 had made their service all the more worthwhile as it assisted in reducing the number of people physically going to shops by affording an option of visiting many shops online at a go. ENDS