Uptick in private sector participation in Northern Trade Fair
FRANCISTOWN: The negligible participation of the private sector in the Business Botswana Northern Trade Fair (BBNTF) has become a recurring theme.
However, the latest Fair, held here at the Business Botswana Show Grounds in Gerald Estates, has experienced an uptick in the private sector participation.
The fair was held under the theme, “Promoting Economic Growth Through Industrialisation”.
While speakers who spoke before the CEO of Business Botswana (BB), Norman Moleele, bemoaned the low participation of the private sector in the fair, Moleele brought numbers to dispel that notion.
He revealed that out of the 120 enterprises that exhibited at the Fair, 87 of them were from the private sector. Moleele further explained that out of the 87 exhibitors, 27 of them were under the tutelage of the Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) while 57 were individual entities.
He was responding to the words of the BB president, Gobusamang Keebine, who had earlier on cried out about the low participation of the private sector in the Fair.
It became clear after Moleele provided statistics to drive his point home that Keebine was talking without the benefit of statistics to quantify his claim.
Earlier on when giving the presidential remarks, Keebine had lamented that a majority of the 120 exhibitors at the event were from government and parastatals.
Keebine then challenged his colleague Moleele to strive to attract 150 exhibitors or more during next year’s event. The organisation’s president added that the Fair should be heavily dominated by the private sector.
Keebine’s remarks led the Minister of Minister of Entrepreneurship, Karabo Gare, to express displeasure about the alleged status quo.
Meanwhile, Keebine stressed that the importance of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMMEs) to the country’s economy cannot be overemphasised.
In 2021, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said in Africa, SMMEs provide an estimated 80% of jobs across the continent, representing an important driver of economic growth.
“SMMEs play a major role in the economy of Botswana,” Keebine said.
“They contribute about 20% of our Gross Domestic Product. “SMMEs have great potential to grow our economy, therefore, government should tailor make policies that support their growth.
“Current government policies that hinder the growth of SMMEs should be relooked into in order to allow them to thrive.”
He added that BB will continue to advocate and lobby the government on what can be done to support businesses to thrive.
Keebine also challenged local businesses to produce goods that can compete in the global market.
“The goods you produce must be of the highest quality and not be substandard,” said Keebine.
His words were echoed by Gare and the Mayor of Francistown, Godisang Radisigo. The minister stated that SMMEs employ many people and also contribute to the economy by paying taxes. Radisigo also implored BB to invite foreign exhibitors for next year’s event. “Francistown is a strategic place for investment. We are open for investment. “In our city, we have deliberately made policies that support our SMMEs. “SMMEs dominate our economy, hence we devised the Informal Sector Strategy as one of the ways to work with them,” said Radisigo.
Radisigo’s call came against the backdrop of the words of the BBNTF Manager (North), Eileen van der Est, who told The Monitor’s sister publication on Thursday that foreign business entities will not take part in this year’s Fair.