BSB in saving mobilisation campaign

PATRICIA MAGANU
Staff Writer | Wednesday April 1, 2009 00:00

Speaking at the occasion, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning Solomon Sekwakwa said Batswana should refrain from thinking that they could not save because they earned small salaries because saving was not new to Batswana, anyway.

'Going back in time, Batswana used to save their harvest all the time to prepare for hard times and they should think about saving money in the same manner because nowadays you cannot do anything without money,' Sekwakwa said.

He said a lot of Batswana are leaving from pay cheque to pay cheque.
'We need to stop competing unnecessarily,' he said, adding that livestock farming was risky because it was vulnerable to drought and other afflictions; it was therefore better to sell the animals and save in interest-earning accounts.

Sekwakwa said if BSB wanted to attract more customers, it should be customer-sensitive. 'In other countries, customers are respected,' he said. 'For you to market yourselves, you need to respect your customers.'

Infact, customers could market the bank better than the bank itself: 'It does not take much to satisfy a customer, but you will see that customer-satisfaction brings returns,' he added.

BSB Managing Director, Landrick Sianga, said they were trying to discourage Batswana from keeping money at home. 'Nowadays when you do not have money you cannot live because of the way the world is run,' Sianga said.

He further advised old people to make an arrangement with BotswanaPost to transfer their pension money into their savings accounts.