28 Sep 2022

There is need to secure a land bank for business operations, Assistant Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Beauty Manake, has said.

She said this during a recent tour of Rapha Medical Centre in Letlhakane.

She stated that there was need to come up with a framework to start engaging different ministries through established organisations and find ways to talk to land boards because people complained of lack of land.

She said there was need to establish a land bank for businesses in developing villages because acquiring space was a challenge, adding ‘the knowhow is there, the love for business is there and there is a lot that we can achieve,’ she said.

She said it was in the best interest of the Ministry of Trade and Industry to see businesses prospering.

“If we pull together and work together, nothing would be impossible for us to transform this economy,” she said.

With her passion of rural development, she said villages should be provided with enabling services.

Director of Rapha Medical Centre, Dr Remotsaletswe Boithamako, said they had a dream to expand their clinic to a hospital standard, but were limited by lack of land.

He said the wish was to have a fully-fledged medical centre as they often had to refer their clients to Gaborone and Francistown even for minor services.

He appreciated support from the mines in Boteti such as Lucara and Debswana. Local Enterprise Authority (LEA), he said, helped them develop a business plan to secure loans from Citizen Enterpreneurial Development Agency (CEDA), citing that they had been funded by CEDA to secure an X-RAY machine.

Partner and director at Rapha, Dr Karabo Modise reiterated that patients in Boteti struggled to access health services and travelled long distances to access them.

He stated that they had recently acquired a two hectare field and were in the process of change of land-use. He said they offered dental services, physiotheraphy, laboratory and radiology services in partnership with Diagnofirm, and has a staff employ of 14 at their clinic.

For his part Companies and Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA) representative, Mr Kaiririua Murenga commended Rapha Medical Centre management for their commitment and passion to the business.  ENDS