14 Sep 2022

 It is high time Batswana get involved in the cultivation and commercialisation of indigenous plants, says Standard Chartered Bank chief executive officer, Mr Mpho Masupe.

Speaking at the launch of the banks greening Botswana at Itumeleng Primary School on Tuesday, Mr Masupe said little was done to accentuate the importance of indigenous plants.

Mr Masupe urged Batswana to come up with ways to safeguard the ownership of indigenous plants, saying greening Botswana could only be done with indigenous trees.

He explained that his bank was commemorating 125 years of doing business in Botswana, and that to celebrate the , occasion they have decided to plant 12 500 indigenous trees nationwide by June 2023.

Mr Masupe kick-started the commemoration by planting 125 trees at Itumeleng Primary School in Gaborone.

“We know that the Botswana government has signed up to the Paris Agreement and that Botswana is carefully tracking our commitment to have reduced our carbon emissions by 15 per cent by 2030.

This aligns closely to the bank’s bold stand of ensuring that our banking footprint reaches net zero by 2050,” said Mr Masupe.

Mr Masupe also noted that to achieve the target, SCB recently launched the Main Mall Branch project. He said it was fully solar powered as well as the energy saving Express Banking Centre in Lobatse.

He said with the tree planting challenge, SCB wanted to ensure that its communities not only benefited from sustainability efforts, but that they also left a footprint that would live beyond the nation.

“The value of our indigenous trees cannot be overemphasised. Our aim is to green Botswana and we are looking to green specifically areas where Batswana meet in numbers such as clinics, dikgotla, schools and others,” he said.Mr Masupe also pleaded with the banks clients, local authorities and partners to assist in driving the challenge.

Dr Goitseone Malambane from BUAN plant production, who was also at the launch, said communities needed to cultivate indigenous plants at a commercial scale.

He also noted that indigenous plants were highly nutritious, of low maintenance and produced quality foods hence it was important to manage and restore them.

He pleaded with individuals to have a mind change about indigenous plants, and to cultivate and make products out of them.  ENDS