28 Mar 2023

With robust business models in place, new businesses are expected to be created while existing and potential entrepreneurs will be capacitated.

It is expected that under the models, micro enterprises projects in agriculture, housing, social protection, youth development and education sectors will  also be implemented to create employment, wealth as well as improve livelihoods.

Also, micro enterprises will  be revamped to ensure that they were  economically sustainable.

Minister of Entrepreneurship, Mr Karabo Gare said this in his presentation of the ministry’s budget estimates for the 2023/2024 financial year in Parliament on Monday March 27. 

Mr Gare said owing to the ministry’s mandate to provide leadership and overall policy direction, strategy and standards on business development, the scope of priorities was summarised into two areas, which included ensuring that enterprising individuals existed as well as avail lucrative business development opportunities.

“Integration of these two will lead to the creation of more SMEs which will create more jobs for the citizens,” he said.

The ministry’s portfolio responsibilities, he said, included, among others, enterprise development and coordination, business development policy, women and youth empowerment as well as wealth creation.

Other responsibilities include citizen economic empowerment, support for innovative projects, business consultancy and advisory Service, business counselling and mentoring, consumer cooperatives development as well as integrated support to SMEs. 

Minister Gare added that the ministry’s mandate was driven by four programmes which included doing business reforms, infrastructure development, wealth creation and computerisation.

“The ministry will undertake holistic business reforms to mitigate the risks of doing business. This will be done through improving government policies, laws and regulations and by stimulating competition through enabling new SMMEs to thrive,” he said.

He indicated that through value chain development, linkages between different stages in the production of goods and services would further be developed, with the aim to create employment, maximise resources and enhance export revenue.

On infrastructure development, he said the ministry would adopt a cluster-based development approach to provide SMEs with infrastructure in order to enhance their productivity, competitiveness and capacity building towards sustainable, equitable as well as inclusive economic growth.

“Addressing poverty, inequality and unemployment in order to continually improve the quality of life for Batswana is a priority area for government,” he said adding that, as part of the Reset Agenda, economic empowerment programmes had been consolidated under the newly created programme to ensure that they were impactful.

He said the newly created programmes included poverty eradication, women economic empowerment, agribusiness and Livestock Management and Infrastructure Development (LIMID). 

“Consolidation will result in efficiency and effectiveness in the provision of incentives for marginalised groups,” he added.

It was on such backdrop that Minister Gare proposed budget estimates of over P1.045 billion, comprising over P772 million for the recurrent budget and over P272 million under the development budget. 

He said infrastructure development would be allocated the lion’s share of development budget of over P171.3 million while P31.5 million would be used to construct SMEs business hubs along the A1 Highway.

He said the Doing Business programme required P10 million, out of which P5 million would fund enterprise competitiveness, TOKAFALA with the other half going towards promotion of entrepreneurship culture and mindset change projects. 

Parliament subsequently approved the proposed estimates requested for the next financial year. Ends