Officials at the government’s integrated investment and trade promotion authority said since the launch of the #PushaBW initiative they have seen local retail stores listing the local products.
Speaking during the #PushaBW forum on the sidelines of the just ended 17th Global expo, BITC CEO Keletsositse Olebile said the campaign has been gaining traction every year.
He equally urged Batswana to be intentional in their drive to empower the local produce and services. “#PushaBW campaign calls for you as a local to introspect, as a company that is doing business in Botswana to say ‘why is it that we broadly have a mindset that places our goods and services as inferior,” he said.
Olebile revealed that over the years, the campaign has boosted the confidence of the local produce as there have been some positive responses from local retailers. “As a result of the campaign, we have seen the local retail stores listing the local products and where we stand, there is one retail chain store that we are working with to finalise listing the local products,” he said. “We have also gone to ask for the visibility of the local products in these stores, and as we speak, there are local produce shelves which are usually labelled.”
The retail stores that have taken on this mantle are Woolworths, Square Mart, Spar, Choppies and Trans Africa. Some of these retailers have invested further in helping local companies develop their products to their required standards.
On her part, Assistant Minister of Trade and Industry, Beauty Manake urged locals to change their mindset and appreciate the local goods noting that the quality of local goods has improved and matches the international standards. She said the birth of the #PushaBW campaign has given the local entrepreneurs confidence to penetrate markets adding that the campaign has also resulted in the birth of a wide range of goods and services.
"Over the past few years, following the launch of the #PushaBW campaign, there has been a steady shift towards more awareness, appreciation, and support for local products and services,"
She further said BITC has been active on the ground to continuously and tirelessly engage big retailers to consider local products on their shelves.
"I am informed that there is some significant or slight progress in this area as we continue to witness an increase in local product offerings in major retail outlets, and there is more to come," she said
Another notable success is the engagement with corporates to rally around the #PushaBW campaign and, where possible, buy and use local products in their operations. More and more companies are setting up Citizen Economic Empowerment Programmes in response to buying local.
This year’s #PushaBW Forum was held under the theme, 'Mindset Change to Doing Business: Advancing Entrepreneurship' . This is in recognition and alignment with the recently launched Mindset Change campaign.
#PushaBW campaign was launched in 2018 as a marketing initiative with an ambitious objective of driving a national paradigm shift towards the uptake of local products to create employment and grow national economy. The campaign targets three main key players being the producer, retailer and the consumer to improve the quality of local products to help producers have more of these products on the shelves of local stores and for the consumer to consciously choose to buy the products.
