Women urged to network for business success
Ivy Matlho | Tuesday June 23, 2015 13:56
Speaking during the Northern Women’s Pre-exposition workshop held here recently, Senior Gender Officer, Patricia Masasa said networking is an important aspect in business.
She said it helps entrepreneurs to interact with others and learn from each other adding that networking could help them improve their businesses by acquiring skills from others.
The Northern Women’s Exposition will be held in Francistown at BOCCIM Grounds from July 27 to August 2. The exposition will draw participants from parts of Central District, Selebi- Phikwe, Francistown, North East, Chobe and North West districts under the theme Women’s Economic Empowerment: Prosperity & Progress for All. The theme will be running for the second consecutive year, as the intention is to maintain the same theme for a period of three years.
Masasa also stated that women should refrain from being tightfisted with business skills as that draws them back.
“Sharing the knowledge you have with one another is important, as that will help other entrepreneurs to gain the experience and skills that you have and that can help in terms of improving products, “ she said.
She also advised women to take part in large-scale businesses so that they are able to compete with entrepreneurs from outside the country.
She encouraged women to make goods that can be supplied to large retailers in and outside the country. “It is very sad to find our country exporting goods from other countries that can be manufactured here, it is high time we produce products that can be supplied to large retailers, we want a situation where bread baked in our country is exported to countries such as South Africa. We should not rely on other countries to supply us,” she said.
Masasa implored women to brand their products in such a way that they attract consumers stating that branding is important for marketing.
“You should also be cautious of how you brand your products, branding alone can market your products,” she advised.
Meanwhile, women entrepreneurs have also been advised to have high self-esteem as that could help them market and boost their businesses.
Kabelo Tsiang, Gender Affairs Officer stated that in most cases women entrepreneurs are not able to progress in business due to lack of self-esteem. “High self-esteem is another important aspect in business. As an entrepreneur you should always have a high self-esteem, as that will help you sell your products. In most incidents women entrepreneurs fail to prosper not because they do not have business skills, but because they have low self-esteem,“ he explained.
Tsiang also encouraged women to use multi-media to market their products during the expositions to avoid crowding the stalls as that can also affect their results.
“Multi-media is the best to show your products, exhibitors are not restricted to bringing many products to their stalls. However it becomes a problem when the products crowd the stall,” he explained.