US-Africa Business Summit a success
Larona Makhaiza | Monday August 14, 2023 06:00
Manake stated that the summit accorded SMEs with a great opportunity to showcase locally produced goods and services to other parts of the continent and to the US.
She further stated that because of the summit, SMEs benefited greatly as a plethora of sales were recorded in just four days of the summit. “As a result of the deliberate efforts to position the SMEs to benefit from the summit, a total of P485,636.00 worth of sales was recorded during the four days which is testament that more could be achieved to grow SMEs due to events of this nature,” Manake told Parliament. Manake highlighted that even to date the SMEs are still working on orders that were made during the summit to international markets and she feels that local businesses should always grab opportunities before them. “We believe that our local businesses would continue to tap on the market access opportunity opened for them and we would continue to facilitate and encourage them to carry on improving products and service quality,” she said.
SMEs are, however, not the only businesses to have ever milked the honey from the summit. The Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC) has also made a fortune out of the summit more than what the SMEs got. Manake echoed that hosting the summit only required a budget of P19 million and in the needed amount, government only coughed up P8.2 million while the remaining balance was sourced from the private sector and corporates around the country.
Though the summit was a success, the Assistant Minister apprised Parliament that there are areas they took lessons from. “We share lessons from the summit that there are immense opportunities to grow the tourism sector especially accommodation and leisure which are premier to host. And public private relationships remain critical for the development of this country and as such collaborations such as hosting events jointly would really create much needed jobs for Batswana,” added Manake.
She further indicated that there are also opportunities to develop the value chains in the event sector youth-centric in order to curb youth unemployment. Manake also said the country has received positive feedback from all corners. “We have received positive feedback locally and internationally and I wish to emphasise that where government and private sector collaborate, the results are immeasurable,” she concluded. Meanwhile, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Lemogang Kwape disclosed to Parliament that BITC raised millions of pula at the summit.
“This was the first high level gathering of this magnitude in Botswana with over 1,000 participants who are high profile individuals and according to BITC, the total gains emanating from hosting the US-Africa Business Summit is a total of P25,400,000.00,” he said.