Boko empowers SMEs
Cavin Kanoko | Friday September 20, 2019 12:13
UDC council candidates from different wards in Gaborone Bonnington North selected the recipients. Boko is the former Member of Parliament for the constituency.
The initiative has been dubbed as ‘Go Etletsa’, which means to support and it is set to be a continuous effort.
Boko said there are other places that have already benefitted from the initiative. It has two aspects; being the training that is offered to the beneficiaries prior to running their businesses and the mobile carts that are specific to the business ventures of the beneficiaries.
There are tuckshops for those selling snacks and airtime, fruit and vegetable cart and the chesa nyama cart for catering businesses. Each of these carts contains startup stock for the beneficiaries. The carts come with bicycles that can be used to get around as needed.
One of the previous beneficiaries of the initiative, Wame Thomas said he has already made over P4, 000 in less than a month since he got his mobile tuckshop and has employed someone in the process.
Thomas is one of the beneficiaries who were identified by Boko during his tours of the constituency and he received his mobile tuckshop last month.
“I received my tuck-shop on the 1st of August, but I only began operating it on the 10th,” Thomas told Mmegi.
Boko said the initiative was just a small gesture of what they intend to do for Batswana if power is bestowed upon them.
Boko said he already has plans to take the initiative outside Gaborone to the rural areas with 13 carts set to be sent to Shoshong.
He said the intention is to roll out 200 carts by the end of next month.
“I am here to show you that what we have promised you in our manifesto is possible,” Boko said of the wage pledges they made.
He criticised the government for its failure to properly address the concerns of Batswana, likening its attitude of declaring some issues as impossible to the fish bowl mentality.
When commenting on the selection criteria for the beneficiaries he pointed out that their political affiliation was not one of them.
He said he intends to give the carts to anyone who shows signs of self-reliance in that they have engaged in activities that are aimed at helping them get out of poverty as a way of giving them mileage in their businesses.