Gaborone — Batswana have been commended for their enthusiastic response in showcasing their diverse ability and potential to produce goods and services.
Assistant Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Beauty Manake, said Batswana demonstrated their true potential through the seemingly increased local production which had resulted in a wide variety of local products and services.
Officiating at the #PUSHABW initiative campaign which was part of the joint EU Botswana Business Forum and Global Expo in Gaborone on Friday, Ms Manake said over the past years following the launch of the #PUSHABW initiative there was a steady shift towards awareness and appreciation of local products and services.
Ms Manake said despite the promising and encouraging efforts by the local manufacturers the country's import bill was still high as it still stands at the annual P6.8 billion. The high import bill signaled an opportunity of what was lagging in the local market and its worth, adding that the situation was a challenge to all Batswana to explore available value chain and venture into products and services that would reduce the import bill drastically.
She said it was through campaigns such as #PUSHABW that entities such as BITC were able to make informed business on how to support small businesses and engage investors. As such, she said, BITC had been working tirelessly to ensure uptake of local products and services.
Ms Manake said the #PUSHABW Campaign aimed to narrate the story of Botswana as the discussion focused on what was being done to use and consume what had been produced by the locals as well as changing the mindsets. She said it was unfortunate that Batswana were appearing to be diverting away from the good that they used to do destined to change their lives for the better.
Ms Manake said most people could recall that the country used to grow cotton at Pandamatenga through the Masedi Farm under Debswana. Had the country continued with the cotton farming project, Ms Manake said, the country would by today producing local apparels from locally produced cotton.
She said the textile industry was struggling to access raw materials, mainly cloth which was being imported. Therefore, while people recollect and strive to change for the better as guided by the Mind-set Change, they must put emphasise on what they could do best and achieve. She called upon participants to pause and reflect on the journey to support local initiatives, adding that it was important to critically engage and explore new ways to nurture and advance the support to buy locally produced goods and services coupled with the mind-set change campaign.
Ms Manake appreciated that the mind-set change campaign challenges people on how to address businesses.
Furthermore, she noted that the campaign must encourage people to appreciate that the goods and services offered locally were of good value therefore they must appreciate and use them.
Ms Manake said the #PUSHABW initiative was launched in December 2018 to solely encourage local companies to seize opportunities to serve the local companies and people's needs and demands.
She said the campaign was to promote economic diversification and drive Botswana's economy forward by identifying, promoting and increasing the uptake of local products and services.
"A re chencheng megopolo le dikakanyo gore re fetole seemo sa dithoto tsa mo gae...," she said.
Welcoming guests, Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC), Chief Executive Officer, Mr Keletsositse Olebile, said the #PUSHABW initiative was a call to Batswana to introspect as to why people and businesses were placing locally produced goods and services as inferior.
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Mr Olebile said the reality was that the majority of the locals were still consuming and using services that were imported, therefore wondering if the locals were not producing goods and services of the desired quality. As such, Mr Olebile said the 2023 #PUSHABW campaign was aligned with the Mind-set Change Campaign as it was probably a mindset thing that locally produced goods and services were not embraced.
Mr Olebile said the #PUSHA BW Campaign has yielded some positive results as local retailers had started listing local products. He said the corporate entities were also intensively engaged to reduce their import bill by utilising local goods and services.
"We encourage them to substitute what they were importing, by utilising the same that was produced and rendered by the locals," he said. The campaign was held under the theme, "Mindset change to doing business: advancing entrepreneurship."
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