Coops Join Hands To Invest In Property
Onalenna Kelebeile | Monday July 10, 2017 18:00
The four are Selebi-Phikwe, Bobonong, Motswedi and Ditswammung, cooperative societies. The latter two are from Gaborone,
Botswana Cooperatives Association vice chairperson Tebogo Venson said during an interview that they jointly acquired a P4 million plot to build residential houses for rental. “It is a multi-million pula project. It consists of 52 plots valued at P30 million. The project would undoubtedly improve profits for our members,” he said.
Each of the co-ops contributed P1.2 million towards the land purchase and they are currently on the transfer process. “CEDA has shown interest in the cooperative societies, hence we can be convinced that funding for our project would not be a problem. I believe that in the near future, cooperative societies would contribute significantly to the country’s GDP,” he added.
He confirmed that co-ops are now transforming from just being consumer cooperatives that was more risky and resulted in huge losses. They intend to venture into other sectors as well. “We have a strategic plan to venture into sectors like eco-tourism, horticulture and property development.” In Selebi-Phikwe, the co-op society has already transformed from a consumer orientated business to property ownership.
This is because they, at some point incurred over a million-pula debt that resulted in the co-op society closing shop for four years after creditors attached its property. However, the society was able to bounce back after it sold some of its remaining property to clear off the debts. “Fortunately, we did not touch members’ dividends. Right now, we do not owe anything but we receive income in the form of rentals on a monthly basis,” Venson said.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Investment Trade and Industry,Vincent Seretse has said cooperatives have the potential to eradicate poverty, generate employment, address challenges of income inequality and integrate the society.
Speaking during the recent International Cooperatives Day in here, Seretse said this empowers people to collectively realise their economic aspirations while strengthening their social and human capital and developing their communities.
He noted that there are 2.5 million cooperatives employing 12.6 million people worldwide with an asset base of $19.6 trillion generating annual revenue of $2.9 trillion. He said these cooperatives contribute to sustainable economic growth and improve the livelihood of the members and the community within which they are located.
Seretse encouraged Batswana to reflect on the cooperatives model, their contribution and what they represent. “In this era you can no longer afford to run cooperatives as social clubs but as a business entity with all requisite elements,” he said. He noted that government continues to improve the business environment and develop strategies and policies to facilitate enterprise development and growth. These include the Citizen Economic Empowerment Policy, Economic Diversification Drive Strategy and Industrial Development Policy.