WIBA Facilitates Legal Security For Women SMEs
Pauline Dikuelo | Monday July 24, 2017 15:08
‘Business Legal Aid’ is a product aimed at legally assisting SME across the sectors from construction, insurance, broker, bakery, pharmacy, ICT solutions, supplies, micro lenders, to hair salons. Some of the services offered under the product include labour matters, civil matters, assisting in commercial contracts as well as debt collection.
Once the business is subscribed, Mosele Legal Services will negotiate on their behalf, cover their industrial court hearings, labour law manuals, retrenchment procedures and negotiations. Speaking during the launch, WIBA outgoing president Tumi Mbaakanyi said through this product, WIBA members will get preferential rates and get complementary legal services.
“I hope that women in business will take advantage of this opportunity to secure their future because each business needs to have a legal back up which is usually the case with big businesses. It will also help deal with debt collection as, as women we are not aggressive when it comes to that, ” she said.
Premiums applicable are determined by the nature of business, number of employees and company size as measured by turnover and in all covers there is a once off administration fee upon joining. For his part Mosele director, Base Sebonego said they found a niche and bridged the gap after realising that a lot of SMEs sometimes fall not because of poor management but due to cash-flow problems caused by high amounts of debtors.
“We decided to come up with a package that will accommodate legal risks that small businesses are exposed to as mostly SMEs are left out while the well established ones usually have in house lawyers who help in that regard,” he said. Further, he urged government to come up with policies that help businesses run by women to operate in a conducive environment.
“The Business Legal Aid product provides protection allowing a business to focus on growing your business as we manage your legal risks,” he said. However this product does not cover urgent applications, personal matters, pre-existing matters and business arising from business conducted outside Botswana.