Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) has called upon manufactures to wake up to the agenda of quality awareness and high productivity in order to remain relevant in the local and international market.
“Poor quality and low productivity in products continue to cripple the country’s manufacturing sector,” said James Moribane, Head of Property and Manufacturing at CEDA.
Moribane said manufactures should be on the lookout for the current unstable economic times and continuous advancement in technology and the increasing consumer quality awareness. “Optimal mix quality and productivity is what is required to yield sustainable manufacturing base for Botswana,” he said.
He revealed that currently the sector is not vibrant as there are no real dominant manufacturing sectors in the country which he said is not a good signal for a country striving to diversify the economy.
“The major sub sector is milling, constituting a portfolio of 20 percent,” he said.
In addition Moribane said quality and productivity can be achieved through employing cutting edge technologies that reduces margin of error.
The manufacturing industry is vital in diversifying the economy from a fiscus heavily reliant on resources for its revenue base. He said the more emphasis the manufactures put into the quality of their product the greater the chances the product will be accepted in the market place.
He said quality is no longer an option but an essential success factor in manufacturing, adding that it is a moving target that must be pursued.
Moribane said, as CEDA, they have made observations that they felt are posing a drawback in the growth of the sector and need to be addressed. He said most businesses are too inward looking in terms of looking for markets. Adding that another observation that CEDA has made is that most of the manufactures are mono product offering, a clear indication of lack of innovation.
