Francistown Investment Pitso date set
Patricia Edwin | Thursday April 17, 2014 14:23
The Investment Pitso was postponed several times to fine tune the outcome of the event and Francistown mayor James Kgalajwe has vowed that the dates will not be postponed again.
“We are at an advanced stage of planning,” said Kgalajwe.
FCC started planning for the Pitso last year but it was postponed several times after consultations with the government and other parties. Kgalajwe said that the postponement of the Pitso was a blessing in disguise because now it will achieve much more, especially for those targeted potential investors.
“The way I see it, we would not have managed because even though we wanted to host the Pitso, we had not thought it through. It was a good idea, but we did not have plans for what was going to happen after the Pitso for those investors to get established in the city,” he said.
FCC now has two main players on board namely, Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC) and Government Strategy Office.
“After consultations and so many reputable stakeholders who have come on board, we are ready to host an event of international standards,” he said.
He said that they have finished consultations with the mines and they are yet to talk to the youth.
“We have also decided to involve other councils because we have received advice that we cannot develop Francistown and leave other areas out. This is a region and so we have brought on board North East District Council (NEDC), Tonota and Tutume Sub-Districts,” he said.
He said that from now on they are partnering with those councils on the planning and hosting of the Pitso.
Kgalajwe said that there are big players who have become part of the Pitso and also that with all the pledges that have been made they are sitting on a budget of more than P2 million.
He said that they have set aside around P1 million for marketing and advertising of the event.
“We will soon hire a company that will deal with advertising and marketing the Pitso,” he said.
The Francistown Business Pitso is part of the long-term vision of Francistown Vision 2022, which seeks to bring investors to Francistown to spearhead the city’s economic development.