Birdlife Botswana last week Thursday launched tourism oriented projects in Letlhakane, Boteti Sub-District by bringing various stakeholders to ensure beneficiaries do not go off track.
Although several projects might be undertaken in the area given the villages’ proximity to pans (Makgadikgadi Pans) where birds breed, bird-led projects are the first to be counted on.
Birdlife Botswana Director, Dr. Kabelo Senyatso, highlighted during the launch of Gumakutshaa Community Trust, a new Community Based Organization covering three villages of Mmea, Mosu and Mokubilo that after lengthy consultations with communities in the area they, helped them discover the fruitful resources within their locality.
Among those facilitating the event was the Local Enterprise Authority (LEA), an institution established by Act of Parliament in 2004 with the main focus on citizen empowerment through implementation of policies for promotion and development of Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs).
“Every entrepreneur needs to identify a sound opportunity. To identify opportunities, one needs to among others; collect information on resource base, collect information on opportunity identification exercises like brain storming. Read news papers and make observations as you travel and attend events,” explained Onalenna Mmatli, LEA Business Advisor based in Serowe.
He advised participants to create vision, determine what they are good at and what they would like to do.
They were also advised to determine skills they have acquired over the years and find out what the market needs. That way they would come up with winning business ideas.
He further explained that the participants should conduct a market research.
That way, he said they would be able to find answers to questions that ring in the mind of would-be entrepreneurs ÔÇô What kind of people are going to buy my products or utilize my services? Are there enough of those people for me to make money? How can I reach those potential buyers? Is there somebody else already supplying my potential customers?
In launching the trust, Dr Senyatso observed that the establishment of the project has strengthened an enabling environment for improved Protected Area (PA) financial sustainability.
It further proves effective Protected Area co-management Systems demonstrated at site level and new revenue generation schemes field tested and replicated across the PA network. Also it has increased institutional capacity to effectively fulfill PA management functions.
