Poor marketing failing women�s businesses
Pini Bothoko | Tuesday July 28, 2015 16:11
At the briefing here late last week, the GAD announced that the exposition, whose theme will be ‘Women’s Economic Empowerment: Prosperity and Progress For All’, will be officially opened today and it is to go on until August 2. First to take the GAD to task was the Motor Vehicle Fund (MVA) Francistown branch manager Kite Nkala who said though they have great potential of succeeding, the majority of women businesses were failing because they were not given enough support to make a statement in the market. He went on to challenge the department to secure strategically located spaces for their beneficiaries in order to assist them gain exposure to their respective clients. “Majority of women businesses with good products operate from home, thus hindering their exposure to potential markets,” Nkala remonstrated with the GAD. Local Enterprise Authority (LEA)’ s market analyst Outlule Ebutswe said there was a need for the department to consider coming up with comprehensive policies that advocate for marketing women’s products. “Many of their (the women) products are of notable quality. They just need exposure to a good market,” he explained. The LEA representative also advised that the department to regularly train women on how to market their ventures. “Also in most cases, exhibitors are given financial rewards during expos. LEA’s advise is that instead of giving out money, they should be rewarded with training on how they can best market their businesses and other activities on how they can improve their ventures,” he explained. Ebutswe also encouraged the department to encourage their beneficiaries to take advantage of capacity building workshops provided by LEA in order to improve their businesses. Responding to the comments, the Ministry of Labour and Home Affair’s Deputy Permanent Secretary Rose Sennanyana, whose ministry coordinates the GAD, applauded participants for their remarks, adding that the GAD will consider ways of improving marketing of their beneficiaries’ products. She noted that one of the main ideas behind hosting the expo is to solicit ideas on how women can best market their businesses in order to enjoy maximum benefits. In conclusion, the stakeholders identified product marketing as a major hindrance to the growth of women businesses in the country.