BNR DETERGENTS HIT LOCAL MARKET

Entrepreneurship

involves creativity, innovation and risk-taking, as well as the ability to plan and manage projects in order to achieve objectives. Of late, most Batswana have been warming up to this with Born’n Raised team also doing their most.

After successfully hosting annual music festivals for five years, the team, better known as BnR, recently leveraged on the brand and introduced detergents product lines, The products go with the tag ‘Dirt Born, Raised Cleanly’.

The products which have already hit the local market include 750 ml dishwashing liquid, 5 litres dishwashing liquid, 750ml multipurpose cleaner, 5 litres multipurpose cleaners which come in both lemon and lavender fragrances.

The products are now available in Choppies, Gaborone based Square Mart, Thuso Wholesalers in Serowe, Welcome cash n Carry in Selebi-Phikwe and Saverite. Kamoso Distributor is currently the official distributor of the products. Speaking at a launch last week, BnR director, Molatedi Kgotla said citizen economic empowerment law is important as it can protect local businesses. Kgotla noted that local manufacturers encounter challenges in getting their products in shops, noting that many retailers are still not willing to take local products in their shops.

“We call on government to consider a law that enforces retailers to consider taking local products in their shops because we have many talented manufacturers who just need this platform to grow,” he said.

For his part, the Minister of Economic Development and Finance Planning, Thapelo Matsheka urged Batswana to take advantage of citizen economic empowerment initiatives where procurement is reserved for local manufacturers and service providers, local procurement scheme which facilitates local development. “The objective is to empower women, people living with disabilities and youth. We expect to address the Citizen Economic Empowerment law in the next Parliament (sitting).

Government remains steadfast for creating a conducive environment for citizens. Local manufacturing companies need support to be sustainable and create employment,” Matsheka said.

For his part Choppies CEO Ramachandran Ottapathu said his company believes in shared value, hence why they decided to support the BnR team despite that they are their competitors.

“Brands need to survive. I believe if we give local brands some platform it can go a long way in growing the brand hence why we are willing to support other local products,” he said.