Funding SMEs in Botswana: A contrarian view

Empowerment: Besides government, other corporates are engaged in citizen enterprise development. Wilderness recently held a successful Expo for suppliers, where they displayed their products and services. The tourism group signed supply contracts worth P1 million at the event
Empowerment: Besides government, other corporates are engaged in citizen enterprise development. Wilderness recently held a successful Expo for suppliers, where they displayed their products and services. The tourism group signed supply contracts worth P1 million at the event

“Ka April ngwaga o ne o, mokgokolosa o tlabe o simolola wa madi” loosely translated as “As of the first of April there will be truckloads of money”. These were the remarks of President Mokgweetsi Masisi last week as he gave hope for the country’s Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) and entrepreneurs promising finance incentives galore for all who have ideas.

While the “mokgolosa” statement has gone viral on social media, some public finance experts are sounding the alarm over the amounts of cash the government is pouring into unviable ventures, a persistent trend over the years.

Experts estimate that the general failure rate of SMEs in Botswana is about 80%, with over 70% of start-up firms failing in the first 18 months and less than two percent expanding their businesses.

Editor's Comment
BDP primaries leave a lot to be desired

The BDP as a party known to have ample resources has always held its primaries well in time, but this time around that was not the case. The first leg of the primaries was held last weekend, with the final leg being billed for the coming weekend. This time around, the BDP failed to shine in its primary elections. The elections were chaotic; most if not all polling stations didn't open at the specified time of 6am. Loyal BDP members braved the...

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