21 April 2008
Since the biannual National Business Conference (NBC) started in 1988 as a seminal point of animosity between Government and Botswana Confederation of Commerce, Industry and Manpower (BOCCIM), the forum has metamorphosed into a meeting point at which decisions decidedly beneficial to the nation are made.
"Everyone is now at ease because they have realised that we talk about issues that benefit Batswana," says BOCCIM President Modiri Mbaakanyi.The employer federation's new president said on Friday that many organisations in present-day Botswana had come about as a result of NBC resolutions.
Mbaakanyi says an example is the Botswana National Productivity Centre (BNPC), which resulted from resolutions taken at the 1988 conference.The Botswana Export Development and Investment Authority (BEDIA), which was headed by Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba up to the last quarter of last year, is another. (Masire-Mwamba sits on organising committee of NBC 2008). Yet another is the prestigious High Level Consultative Conference (HLCC), the annual multi-sectoral forum headed by the President.
Other achievements of the NBC Mbaakanyi prides BOCCIM in are the relaxation of foreign exchange controls, tax reduction in manufacturing and the debate on citizen economic empowerment.
Meanwhile, the Executive Director of BOCCIM Maria Machailo-Ellis has urged members of the business community to come to NBC 2008 in large numbers.
"The government has done its part," she says. "It is time for the business community to come to the party. I am calling on both Government and the public sector to participate fully."
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