CALL FOR YOUNG BLOOD IN COOPS
Keikantse Lesemela | Monday February 3, 2014 15:46
CALL FOR YOUNG BLOOD IN COOPS
Keikantse Lesemela
Correspondent
T
he youth have been urged to save cooperative societies from the clutches of illiterate elders and unscrupulous managers. Participants at a regional cooperative Pitso in Lobatse said the youth should become members of cooperatives because they are more educated and empowered.
They said cooperatives collapse because most members are elderly, illiterate and cannot deal with fraud perpetrated by managers charged with running the societies.
They said that in most cases, shareholders cannot take action against errant managers because they do not know the policies which govern cooperatives.
A participant said the cooperatives are collapsing due to the fact that members have been cheated by people employed to run cooperative businesses. 'We could not take action against these people because we did not know how we are going to support ourselves in court,' she said.
Molapowabojang chief, Kedirile Letshabo said in the transformation strategy for cooperatives, people should be trained on business management and shareholding in order to survive the retail market.
'Training on business management is very crucial. Batswana do not like partnerships, but that is the reason why these other supermarkets owned by foreigners are successful,' said Letshabo.
Speaking at the workshop, District Commissioner for Lobatse, Ontlametse Ward said members should know that the cooperatives are their responsibility so they should find alternative ways to develop them. 'We should know that the cooperatives are our responsibility as the members of the society including the youth so we should rise up and make sure that these businesses are successful. These are the ways in which we can eradicate poverty in our country,' said Ward.
Responding to comments, the Assistant Minister of Trade and Industry, Keletso Rakhudu said for the cooperatives to develop, the youth should be involved since they are more literate than their parents.
'Training is very crucial if we need to see a change for the cooperatives but the young people should be involved because they are more literate than their parents.
As government, we are supporting you as Batswana to run your businesses, so you should engage individuals and support their small businesses in order to promote beneficiation,' said Rakhudu.
He said awareness has been created among the youth across all regions to the extent that a youth consultancy cooperative was registered in September 2013 and a youth exchange programme was started in December 2013 between Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland.
'My ministry is in the process of finalising management guidelines for cooperatives which include among others internal controls guidelines, corporate governance and risk management,' said Rakhudu.
He urged cooperatives to change their approach to embrace modern business practices, diversify their products and markets, meet customer needs and expectations and uphold entrepreneurship culture.
Participants at a regional cooperative Pitso in Lobatse said the youth should become members of cooperatives because they are more educated and empowered. They said cooperatives collapse because most members are elderly, illiterate and cannot deal with fraud perpetrated by managers charged with running the societies. They said that in most cases, shareholders cannot take action against errant managers because they do not know the policies which govern cooperatives.
A participant said the cooperatives are collapsing due to the fact that members have been cheated by people employed to run cooperative businesses. 'We could not take action against these people because we did not know how we are going to support ourselves in court,' she said.Molapowabojang chief, Kedirile Letshabo said in the transformation strategy for cooperatives, people should be trained on business management and shareholding in order to survive the retail market. 'Training on business management is very crucial.
Batswana do not like partnerships, but that is the reason why these other supermarkets owned by foreigners are successful,' said Letshabo. Speaking at the workshop, District Commissioner for Lobatse, Ontlametse Ward said members should know that the cooperatives are their responsibility so they should find alternative ways to develop them. 'We should know that the cooperatives are our responsibility as the members of the society including the youth so we should rise up and make sure that these businesses are successful.
These are the ways in which we can eradicate poverty in our country,' said Ward.Responding to comments, the Assistant Minister of Trade and Industry, Keletso Rakhudu said for the cooperatives to develop, the youth should be involved since they are more literate than their parents. 'Training is very crucial if we need to see a change for the cooperatives but the young people should be involved because they are more literate than their parents. As government, we are supporting you as Batswana to run your businesses, so you should engage individuals and support their small businesses in order to promote beneficiation,' said Rakhudu. He said awareness has been created among the youth across all regions to the extent that a youth consultancy cooperative was registered in September 2013 and a youth exchange programme was started in December 2013 between Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland.
'My ministry is in the process of finalising management guidelines for cooperatives which include among others internal controls guidelines, corporate governance and risk management,' said Rakhudu.He urged cooperatives to change their approach to embrace modern business practices, diversify their products and markets, meet customer needs and expectations and uphold entrepreneurship culture.