Business

UNSUSTAINABLE

BB President Neo Nwako
 
BB President Neo Nwako

Business Botswana (BB) has warned that the comfort zone of securing government procurement contracts, to prop up business enterprise is over. Speaking recently at a fundraising for C-Suite Fellowship Programme, an initiative expected to nurture ethical and future-focused executives, BB President Neo Nwako said tenderpreneurship days are over. “They don't exist in Botswana anymore,” said Nwako.

He said the development gives the business community an opportunity to rethink, recalibrate, re-pivot, and create a future generational Botswana. “A Botswana that's going to give everybody who's got good ideas, who's innovative, who's disruptive, equal opportunities and equal chances,” said Nwako. He however emphasized that this development should be supported by reforms oiling the ease of doing business.

“Those are some of the real critical challenges,” said Nwako indicating that the country’s economic transformation endeavours give an opportunity for parliament to look at laws that require to be either removed, reformed or changed to enable ease of doing business. “And we already saw in the last parliamentary sitting, so I am quite optimistic that we will see that happening.” Nwako said in the coming sitting of parliament, BB is expecting more reforms that are going to enable ease of doing business.

“So if you have some of those ideas, reforms, laws that you want that will indeed turn the table Business Botswana is there,” said Nwako calling for the business community to use the business apex body, as a lobbying tool, to push for reforms. Over the past months, the government has been forced to suspend the generation of Government Purchase Orders (GPO) from its Accounting and Budgeting System (GABS), due to the prevailing financial situation of low coffers. Meanwhile, Nwako has applauded the Botswana Economic Transformation Program (BETP) as a major instrument to ensure diversification of economy from a mineral resource-based economy to a service-based and digitised economy with exportable skills and services.

BETP is a results-driven initiative launched in Botswana to accelerate the country's transition from a resource-based to a diversified, high-income, and globally competitive economy.