12 Jul 2021

Member of Parliament for Ramotswa, Mr Lefoko Moagi has urged budding entrepreneurs in his constituency to consider potential business opportunities in the renewable energy sector.

Speaking in an interview on the sidelines of a Youth Development Fund (YDF) orientation workshop hosted by his office over the weekend Mr Moagi, who is also the Minister of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security, said young people who were lining up for the recently introduced YDF applications should consider manufacturing of solar panels and fans for wind energy.

He said solar energy was a new field which had huge business potential.

Energy security remains one of government’s top priorities and government is also talking about reducing the power import bill and export of electricity in the near future.

However, Mr Moagi said if youth applications with YDF were not successful they should not give up, but go big and approach other financial assistance agencies such as CEDA and chase their dreams.

When giving an overview of the event, Mr Moagi said he was pleased with the turnout and the feedback from various business facilitators who were on the ground to impart their experiences.

He said the purpose of the orientation was to empower young entrepreneurs with knowledge and skills towards the fund and allow them to hold one on one discussions with business facilitators.

For her part, principal programmes officer in the youth office in Ramotswa, Ms Felicity Nyoni explained that priority for this year’s funding was given to the manufacturing in various sectors such as health, food processing, energy and environment.

She urged young people to develop innovative business proposals that would move the country forward and create job opportunities to other Batswana.

She said they must explore different fields such as digitization and innovation initiatives as technological innovation was a wide area with a great potential.

She said tourism sector was one area that needed to be explored, more especially the agro-tourism and eco-tourism components.

Ms Nyoni explained regulations with regards to the loan application and asked young people to familiarise themselves with its contents.

When advising on business proposals, CEO of a purchase order financing company, Ticano Group, Mr Opelo Motswagae asked the youth to make their research and findings relevant to the local market.

He said they must also take into consideration the bargaining power of their suppliers and establish viable relationships with them.

He urged new applicants to join hands and establish collaborations for industrial funding so as to present same vision and ambition and avoid unnecessary competitions among themselves. ENDS