In the centre stage of empowering the citizen in Botswana is the Local Enterprise Authority, that provides Training, Mentorship, Market Access, and Technology Support to Micro and Small enterprises across the country.
The Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) was established by the Small Business Act of 2004, Chapter 43:10 of the Laws of Botswana to carry out on behalf of the Government of Botswana, and more specifically the Ministry of Investment Trade and Industry (MITI), the mandate of entrepreneurship and enterprise development in Botswana. LEA says that its mandate “in accordance with the Small Business Act, the Authority’s mandate is to promote entrepreneurship and SMME development through providing business development services inter alia through; screening, business plan facilitation, training and mentoring; Identifying business opportunities for existing and future SMMEs; Promoting domestic and international linkages, especially between SMMEs and government, large business entities and other SMMEs, and much more.”
The season of 2016 to 2017, business plans submitted were over 1,400, entrepreneurs trained in the same season were over 1,200; all empowered across their branches across the country. The Authority prides itself on having an extensive country-wide footprint of 13 branches. Through the guidance of the Quality Management System Standard ISO 9001, the highly specialized quality of service is standardized in all the branches and clients are therefore guaranteed excellent service in the entire LEA branch network regardless of the location. Through these branches, LEA was able to execute over 650 outreach programmes, reaching to the most remote places in the country to empower and equip the citizen on becoming enterprising.
In 2017, the LEA participated at the 2017 National Agricultural Show, which was held at the Sebele Agricultural Show Grounds under the theme “Practicing Smart Agriculture to combat the effects of climate change”. Some of the exhibitors from LEA, included businesses in Farm implements and accessories; Manufactures and repairs agricultural implements, steel structures; a salt mining business; and Provides dental medical services, all being micro and small businesses under their mentorship. LEA classifies a Micro Enterprise as an enterprise making turnover of less than BWP 300,000 per annum, and service offered to Micro Enterprises were designed to adopt a product-centric focus at low cost, whilst maintaining the quality of interventions and their practicality provide input-based interventions.
For these Micro Enterprises, for example, the interventions and support include provision of a Business Development Kit (BDK), Training Interventions, Entrepreneurship Development Training (EDT), Business Counselling/Coaching, and Business Plan Development. All these are empowerment activities that bring results contributing to the growth of the economy of Botswana.
Source: LEA.co.bw
