13 Jul 2021

Ultramafic, a company that produces personal protective equipment, has been urged to distribute it’s products countrywide and ultimately target the African and world markets.

Minister Kgafela encouraged the company during a familiarisation tour of the facility undertaken together with the Assistant Minister of Health and Wellness, Mr Sethomo Lelatisitswe in Gaborone on Monday.

He also stated that one of government’s mandates was to promote citizen entrepreneurship to diversify the economy.

“We also have to thank our parliamentarians for seeing it fit to come up with the Small Business Act of 2004, which brought forward organisations such as Local Enterprise Authority (LEA), whose mandate is to promote entrepreneurship and SMME development,” he said.

Mr Kgafela said since surgical face masks were mostly imported, it was comforting to realise that locals were now taking up the baton to produce a similar product.

For his part, Mr Lelatisitswe said the President had tasked each cabinet member to promote and pursue citizen entrepreneurship especially in the manufacturing sector in their constituencies.

He encouraged Ultramafic to continuously improve the quality of their products, adding that as a ministry they would continue to support local manufacturers.

For his part, Ultramafic director, Mr Thuso Sejoe extended heartfelt gratitude to all stakeholders, financiers and mentors who made his company’s vision attainable.

“The machinery that we use can produce 50 masks per minute and P950 000 was spent to procure them,” he said.

Additionally, Mr Sejoe said his company had currently employed four individuals and anticipating to employ more staff members in the near future. Ends