30 Jan 2022

Action Coach Botswana will contribute to the survival of small and medium enterprises (SMMEs) through effective coaching, says Minister of Finance and Economic Development Ms Peggy Serame.

The minister, who was speaking at the organisation’s launch in Gaborone Friday, said it was joining other players such as LEA, CEDA, Tokafala, Business Botswana and Botswana Chamber of Mines in the provision of support to emerging firms.

All were in pursuit of the critical objectives of growing businesses, ensuring sustainability and growth of the private sector, Ms Serame said.

She said Action Coach Botswana would among others offer coaching focused on leadership development in a group setting to help business owners develop long-term and short-term goals as well as strategies.

Minister Serame said it would also offer training workshops to improve employees’ business skills.

“As government, these are initiatives that we strongly support, as they seek to elevate the entrepreneurial spirit in the country,” she said.

The minister said such efforts provided employment creation opportunities and lessened the burden of economic support on government.

Ms Serame said in recent times, Botswana had experienced significant disruptions to productive capacity and consequently loss of income in some key sectors of the economy.

She said the disruptions which resulted in lockdowns and other restrictions aimed at combating the spread of coronavirus, dealt a serious blow to national productive capacity.

The minister said in order to reverse the misfortunes and move towards economic recovery and transformation, the country needed interventions that would expand employment and self-employment opportunities for citizens.

Botswana also needed to expand the range of entrepreneurial activities and take advantage of employment and entrepreneurial activities as they unfold, she said.

She informed her audience that Parliament had approved the Economic Recovery and Transformation Plan aimed at rebooting the economy and cushioning it from COVID-19 shocks.

Also in place was the Reset Agenda entailing resetting of  national priorities taking into consideration  new and unexpected challenges, adopting new approaches and implementation strategies and availing the necessary resources, she said.

The minister said government continued to implement business and skills development initiatives geared at empowering young people.

Action Coach Botswana managing director Mr Wilfred Mpai said coaches and consultants had a role to play in growing the local economy.

He said his organisation was willing to collaborate with financial institutions to share knowledge and skills with young people as well as the business community.

Mr Mpai said the organisation would draw lessons from the over 80 countries it was operating in. Ends