Private sector focused book set for launch

Ulla Setswalo | Thursday March 17, 2016 14:30

According to one of the promoters of the project, Archie Thembe the concept was initially conceived in 2012 as an idea and in 2013, 50 Years of Economics and Business (Pty) Ltd was registered as a trading entity under the stewardship of Kagiso Habangana and himself.

The publication comes at a time when Botswana is preparing to celebrate its 50th independence.

Thembe said the book was conceived against the backdrop of the realisation that most of the country’s story of evolution is told from a single dimension of what government has done to get Botswana to where it is.

He further said, in doing so, the private sector’s contribution has been subordinated to a point where it is non-existent.

“The publication gives companies and organisations an opportunity to appeal to the reader’s emotions by sharing empirical contributions to the country since they started trading in Botswana,” said Thembe. 

This, according to Thembe, includes but not limited to such measures as investment levels in the country, tax remitted back into the fiscus through the local revenue service, employment created to date – thus touching the lives of Batswana both directly and indirectly and corporate social responsibility ploughed back into the society. Once the book is launched, it would be distributed in various government offices, hotel lounges, international airport lounges, online, embassies and diplomatic missions and there is every intention to have it rolled out on the mainstream school curriculum.  The target market are those companies and organisations that contributed to the development of the publication.  It will also culminate in an Investment Symposium to be held sometime in early December 2016. The company also has wishes to launch a financial outlook publication in the first quarter of 2017.

Thembe, given that this is a commemoratory year, said that as promoters of the project they have decided that this year’s publication be a once-off, which in a small measure explains its magnitude.

The duo has approached the Ministry of Trade and Industry for a partnership while other organisations such as BOT50, Brand Botswana and Vision 2016 have also endorsed the product. The publication has also secured partners such as Botswana Stock Exchange, Botash, Choppies, Apex, Native Impressions, Duma FM, The Business Weekly & Review, Demographic, Apex and BOPEU.

“We do, however, hope for more support in so far as those companies that really formed the heartbeat of this country coming on board with their stories,” said Thembe.