15 Aug 2024

The Youth Business Elevator Challenge (YBEC) organised by the Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) concluded with crowning of top 10 finalists who will win a share of P1 million.

Through the Business Summit held on Wednesday in Gaborone, LEA hosted business pitch presentations by the YBEC top 20 finalists. Addressing participants at the auspicious event, the Ministry of Entrepreneurship Director - Economic Empowerment- Mr Ronnie Phuthego, said the YBEC is a project funded by the African Development Bank and implemented in partnership with the LEA.

 Mr Phuthego said the initiative’s goal  was to promote youth entrepreneurship through training and funding support for youth-owned enterprises. He noted that nurturing youth entrepreneurship is critical in addressing job creation and mitigating challenges related to youth unemployment and underemployment in Botswana.

“As a pilot country for the African Growth Platform (AGP), Botswana aims to tackle Africa’s unemployment crisis by scaling up 100 million SMEs and startups by 2025, with support from the African Development Bank (ADB),” said Mr Phuthego

The current set of projects, titled “Scaling and Accelerating Youth Entrepreneurship in Botswana (SAYEB),” draw from the budget for the Forbes Under 30 Africa Summit, which was hosted as part of the broader AGP implementation plan, he said.

Mr Phuthego reiterated that the project comprised four key components and first was a consultancy study by the Botswana Institute of Development Policy Analysis (BIDPA) to identify interventions to stimulate youth entrepreneurship and develop high-impact, innovative initiatives to build the capacity and growth of youth-owned or led MSMEs and startups in Botswana.

 Another component was a consultancy to develop a framework for reforms to increase access to finance and the creation of an SME-centred investment vehicle to support youth entrepreneurship in Botswana, adding that this was at procurement stage and was expected to be completed by November 2024, he said.

Mr Phuthego further said the third component involved the creation of a structured Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Technology Platform to facilitate the development of youth-led startups and MSME enterprises.

He said the procurement for this component has been finalised, and the execution was scheduled for completion by November 2024. Notably, he said the fourth component was the YBEC and Youth Summit, highlighting that the Challenge was launched in June 2024.

Meanwhile, LEA Chief Digital Officer, Mr Onkabetse Moatlhodi, said the Challenge received 700 applications, with 457 participants completing the training programme.

He said from these, 110 finalists were selected based on their business plans and went through a Masterclass before the top 20 were chosen. Mr Moatlhodi said the 10 final winners will each receive funding ranging from P250 000 to P50 000 as seed capital for their businesses.

He said entrepreneurship and SMME development were crucial drivers of job creation and economic growth, offering solutions to many global economic challenges.

 He added that the Government of Botswana has recognised this by establishing the Ministry of Entrepreneurship, which was launched in November 2022, as a testament to its commitment to fostering entrepreneurship. ENDS