Author demystifies the stock market in Setswana

Pauline Dikuelo | Monday January 11, 2016 18:00

 

Rasengwatshe, works under the auspices of “Ghettoprenuer”, an urban group of young entreprenuers said to have been  inspired by the streets on which they grew up. The book, a 52 pager, entitled “Se o tlhokang go se itse pele oka beeletsa/gweba ka diabe”, is aimed at sensitising Batswana about the importance of investing in shares.

Rasengwatshe has also authored two other self-explanatory books on the economy, “We need an economic cooling” and “Ghettoprenuer”. He said the BTC IPO, which has been dragging on for some time, has inspired him to translate the book in the language that Batswana would understand.  “I was inspired by what is currently going on and decided to sensetise the public especially Batswana about this opportunity as most of them, even those who know English, do not understand some economic terms,” he said Rasengwatshe said he decided to translate the basics of the stock exchange for people to understand.

His target is aspiring share buyers who may need more information on the stock market. In compiling the book, he said they gathered information from the Internet while some of the contribution was done by Ghettoprenuer members who have some financial background.

“The information regarding the stock market is huge. So we decided to look at the basics of the entry level of understanding the stock market as well as what to look out for,” he said. Today a total of 462 million BTC share will be offered to the public at a price of P1 each, marking the first step in closing the country’s first privatisation process.Under the company’s IPO, Batswana and citizen owned companies are eligible to buy a minimum of 1,000 shares translating to P 1,000. According to the IPO’s prospects, the offer is expected to run for eight weeks, that is, up to March 4, 2016. The shares are expected to be listed on the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) on April 8 where trading would still be restricted to citizen investors only.