Presidential decrees give youth businesses leverage
Oageng Batenegi | Friday September 2, 2016 14:52
The deputy permanent secretary (corporate services) at the ministry of Transport and Communications, Rose Sennanyana said this when giving opening remarks at a business workshop conducted on procurement for youth companies held in Gaborone this week.
She said government has directed through directive No. CAB 14 (B)/2015, that all ministries and independent government departments should allow youth to purchase tender documents at 50% of the selling amount.
Sennanyana added that there is another directive on local procurement scheme which reserves 20% of the quota reservation on micro procurement for youth, women and people living with disability.
Sennanyana said furthermore, youth businesses have been granted a 5-year grace period for paying lease fees with land boards while government ministries and independent departments have also been directed to apply a 15% price preference margin for youth companies.
“This is for the young entrepreneurs to have a competitive advantage over established and big companies,” Sennanyana said.
The deputy PS added that the Revised National Youth Policy passed by the 10th Parliament was to ensure that the youth are given an opportunity to reach their full potential.
“All these initiatives are a way to demonstrate government commitment to youth empowerment. I strongly believe that these initiatives will enable the youth businesses to succeed,” said the deputy PS.
However Sennanyana noted that as much as government avails the opportunities, the onus lies with the young entrepreneurs to up their game.
She explained that the workshop was meant to provide a platform to identify, discuss and endeavour to close gaps on some of the challenges that have been identified on the entire tendering processes in government and her ministry.
“We believe that the workshop will in some way help in improving the quality of tender submissions by you as young people,” she said.
According to Sennanyana the workshop specifically aimed to impart knowledge to youth businesses on government procurement processes, share challenges, experiences and create a common working ground.
She added that it was also fit for her ministry to share government directives pertaining to procurement, address the issues of service delivery by the youth companies, share issues related to adherence to contract or service level agreements.
She said issues of submission of proposals had to be addressed. The workshop also aimed to motivate the young entrepreneurs despite challenges as well as getting feedback from them regarding the services of her ministry.