Sunday, February 16, 2025

LEA in search of other areas to develop

The Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) strategy 2010/20013 is coming to an end next year and the authority says it is looking at other areas to develop, apart from sub sectors of dairy, piggery, horticulture and leather.

LEA Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Tebogo Matome, pointed out that LEA, as a developmental agency, has been engaged in a project looking at the regional competencies that are there in the 13 regions in the country to find out which key area is suitable for particular place that needs to be developed by LEA.

He added that LEA competency study is expected to be released soon.

He pointed out that the Authority has just completed the assessment of business opportunities by their different regions. He said the aim was to find from regions the comparative advantages the areas have.

He pointed out that, when looking at different sectors, Botswana is a diverse economy and added that the sectors that have potential in different regions cut across agricultural sector, to mining, manufacturing and services.

“Setting up the organizational structure and building of the branch network across 13 locations across Botswana is a big achievement. Also putting in place, policies, process and procedures that enable us to service the entrepreneurs and enterprises is a big move,” said Matome.

He further expressed satisfactory as LEA is the first organization in Botswana to be awarded Multi-site BOBS ISO 9001:2008 certified in Botswana by Botswana Bureau of Standard. He added that the certification ensures that the organization provides standardized services.

“We have been challenged by funding, understaffed client facing staff, problem of coordination of SMME sector, as well as lack of entrepreneurial culture,” said Matome.

He revealed the terms of how the Authority is going to pursue the 2011/2013 strategy going forward to the major issue of financial constraints that they cannot pursue each and everything the company thinks is an opportunity.

LEA Director of Research and Development Division, Masego Gwaila-Madanika, echoed Matome’s words and stated that the competency study preliminary results will first be shared with LEA management and LEA Board.

Gwaila-Madanika also pointed out that to achieve the mandate of SMME’s development and mostly importantly to offer the country’s best potential for economic diversification, LEA identified and prioritized the development of the sub sectors over a three year period.

“Research and experience indicated that as a country, we import some of these products in large quantities, therefore presenting business opportunities for our entrepreneurs to pursue,” said Gwaila-Madanika.

She also pointed out that the organizations have been experiencing both human resources and budgetary constraints, adding that the majority of LEA clients are in the agriculture sector.

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