WORKING RIGHT UP TO THE END: REMARKS VICE PRESIDENT KEDIKILWE AT TONIGHT’S LAUNCH OF THE SIMPLY BOTSWANA e-GUIDE Below is the remarks by H.H. the Vice President at what was his last official function in office, which was also attended by Sir Ketumile Masire among others. Dr. Kedikilwe also made additional informal remarks about the importance of passing the baton. [Salutations]...Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to officiate at this auspicious occasion geared towards showcasing Botswana’s various attractions to the international business community. Today’s launch of, “Simply Botswana e-Guide”, an interactive multimedia e-Guide, is a feat of its kind in Botswana specifically tailor-made for various investments showcasing. The technological tool being launched today will greatly benefit targeted beneficiaries of various and innovative public and private sector programmes designed to improve Batswana’s quality of life. The launch of “Simply Botswana e-Guide” is an important milestone towards the Government’s attainment of the national Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Policy. The key strategic initiatives of this policy were to implement a policy framework entitled “MAITLAMO”, which entails the establishment of the Botswana Innovation Hub; the Science and Technology Park; and the E-Government Strategy. It is from this initiative that the e-Guide falls within the same ambit. The e-Guide plays a pivotal role in showcasing Botswana as a country with abundant opportunities for investment and doing business, hence resonates with the Brand Botswana tag line of, “Our Pride, Your Destination”. The e-Guide further seeks to promote and provide exposure to SMMEs and companies on an international scale as part of the Botswana story. This is against a backdrop of expensive marketing and advertising especially for SMMEs. Considerable SMMEs around the country lack market-access because they cannot afford to advertise their products. The formation of e-Guide is developed from a need of holistic, packaged and comprehensive information on Botswana. This is an initiative meant to better sell the image of Botswana worldwide. The package should inculcate stakeholders to market and sell all that is about Botswana. The advent of Information Communication Technology, particularly the internet, has revolutionised the way countries, organizations and communities communicate and share information. ICTs have created an quote ‘information now’ unquote generation. The concept of e-Guide used a unique, innovative and cutting edge ICT approach to give Botswana the technical means for marketing and selling its products and services online. To address the concept of future plans and aspirations pertaining to e-Guide, it is important that there is availability of e-Guide locally and internationally through strategic partnerships with other stakeholders. The concerned entities should develop more local content into digital form and ensure it is readily accessible. Botswana has been rated as the second free economy in sub-Saharan Africa and 27th out of 186 countries, by Wall Street and Heritage Foundation, 20th Index of Economic Freedom. The other rating worth mentioning is that Botswana ranked 1st in Africa, 25 out of 99 countries by World Justice Project. The aforesaid says a lot about Botswana’s worth as an investment destination. The country has embarked on a vigorous economic diversification drive as well as the Private Sector Development Programme. Currently, Botswana offers opportunities in ICT, mining, construction, pharmaceuticals, agriculture and manufacturing. Therefore let Botswana be your next destination for investment and doing business. While Botswana has such avenues, I am aware of the challenges of the e-Guide concept, namely: difficult collection and packaging of information and content such as text, videos, graphics, and pictures, as most information is not readily available at source; costly development of e-Guide from conceptualization, content gathering, and marketing to stakeholders, development, production and launch. It is therefore important to provide education to stakeholders to utilize the e-Guide technology. Embracing e-Guide would provide a means for cost effectiveness in promoting, marketing, selling and branding products and services. No entity with the intention to promote the private sector possesses resources or budget to go it alone. There is need for stakeholders to pool resources together to create a tool that everyone can access to digitally promote Botswana in the world’s competitive environment. According to internetworldstats, there is currently over 2.8 billion users of the internet worldwide, i.e. 1 in 4 people around the globe; with Asia, Europe and North America leading the way. With the explosion of social-media, this phenomenal growth is set to continue with Asia and Africa predicted to lead the way as the fastest growing continents of internet users and connectivity. We have to exploit these technological environs in order to make our voices heard to place Botswana on the world map. The electronic-Guide should introduce worldwide users to invest, do business, work, live and visit Botswana. I wish to encourage organizations, companies, and departments to fully utilize the e-Guide platform to promote Botswana together with their own brands, products and services. A Setswana saying,‘Kgetsi ya Tsie e kgonwa ke go tshwaraganelwa’ seeks to express that as a collective we can achieve more. I encourage you to utilize this interactive multimedia guide not only to explore Botswana and the information contained therein but to ensure that respective organizations are represented. Let me conclude by conveying my accolades to Mr David Kepaletswe; a true patriot with an innovative mind in these challenging contemporary environment of the Digital age. I encourage that the e-Guide take you through a virtual tour of our beautiful country and the opportunities it presents. Once again welcome to simply the best part of Africa, “Botswana our pride, your destination”. Pula!
Posted on: Mon, 27 Oct 2014 19:51:21 +0000
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