Bulb World CEO To Batswana: Buy Local

Whether it is PushaBW or Buy Botswana, local businesspeople are unanimous that Batswana need to start supporting local businesses. This clarion call has been amplified, especially since the impact of COVID-19 is starting to be visible.

Chief executive officer of Bulb World, Ketshephaone Jacob shared his experiences during the pandemic in a BusinessMonitor interview and how his company has been affected by the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Jacob therefore called on Batswana that it is in hard times like now that they need to support the local industry by buying locally made goods and services.

“Most businesses need money and I am thankful that CEDA has come out to say they are giving Batswana owned businesses money because in most businesses you will find that operational cash is what they need to sustain themselves,” Jacob remarked, referring to the new Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) guidelines.

CEDA is a State-owned development financial institution that recently announced new guidelines aimed at stimulating entrepreneurship.

Jacob also implored government to have a deliberate policy of supporting local businesses by purchasing goods and services from locals before outsourcing. This he said could help them weather the pandemic storm, especially that government is a big spender in the domestic economy.

According to Jacob, during lockdowns effected by government, their products sold well, a testimony to the fact that they were providing an essential service. However, despite their products selling out from stores, the CEO noted that they still felt the impact of the pandemic in the sense that after selling out, they had challenges of purchasing raw materials for their products.

In order to address the raw material challenge, Jacob revealed that they utilised CEDA funding to address it. He said initially they purchased enough for a particular period but they have now started stockpiling raw materials so they can continue delivering their products throughout the year. Stanbic Bank’s head of Acceler8 incubator, Larona Makgoeng warned that lack of transitioning of local businesses and their yielding to the narrative of crisis and doom will jeopardise their prospects.

Makgoeng added that the pandemic will be around until a vaccine is found and therefore urged businesses to look towards the future and align their thinking to adapt to the new ways of doing business.

He said some businesses will be able to survive while others will struggle and probably not survive the pandemic which he attributed to the nature of running a business.