Botswana provides scant support, but people get it done
September 17, 2009
By Nikki Viljoen
I recently had the privilege of facilitating a workshop in Gaborone, themed A Basic Practical Guide to Starting A Business, and I came back with my eyes wide open.
We constantly hear about all the red tape that small business owners and entrepreneurs have to endure here in South Africa. This is a source of constant irritation, but our counterparts in Botswana have it far worse.
Let me give a couple of examples. To register a close corporation in South Africa, you have to complete a CK7 form (name reservation), a CK1 form (founding statement) and an accounting officer's name and consent form - that's three documents for the registration of the business and you're done.
In Botswana, you have to submit a Form 1 (name reservation), a Form 2 (application for registration of a company), a Form 2E (application for registration of a close company), a Form 2F (consent of a member of a close company), a Form 2G (appointment of an accounting officer), a Form 3 (declaration) and a Form 4 (certificate of incorporation) - that's seven documents.
Don't think for a moment that registering a proprietary company is any easier.
In South Africa, you have to complete and submit eight documents, while our colleagues in Botswana have to complete a minimum of 16 documents, depending on the sector that they wish to trade in.
Speaking to business owner Tony Leepile, I discovered just how little support small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) have in Botswana. Leepile, who is in project management and communications consulting, does work for the government and parastatals. He has international and corporate clients, and does a bit of media-related work for non-governmental organisations.
According to Leepile, getting funding is not too difficult, depending on the type of trade that you want to fund, but most of his business came through networking and tenders.
Botswana's equivalent of the Department of Trade and Industry is the Local Enterprise Agency, which provides training and grants to SMMEs from the Citizen Enterprise Development Agency. Just as we encounter red tape in the form of business plans, financial statements and others, entrepreneurs in Botswana have to wade through endless paperwork.
There is little, if any, help from the tax officials; whether you are a small, medium or large business, you pay the same tax - there is absolutely no tax relief for small business.
The recession has hit hard "but not as bad as overseas", says Leepile. Unemployment is high, but according to Leepile it has always been high, "it's just more noticeable now".
The government of Botswana has come up with a few schemes, such as a graduate development programme, which is an internship initiative, aimed at drawing recent graduates into the mainstream economy.
The country's Ministry of Sports and Culture has a fund that issues grants of up to 100 000 pula (R115 000) for the youth to start small businesses.
There is also an initiative called Kickstart, which is funded by Kalahari Breweries. Other than these two, Leepile knows of no other assistance from either the government or the private sector.
What really struck a chord for me, though, was the absolute commitment of the people. Not only the desire to empower themselves, but also the lack of moans and groans about what the government doesn't do. They showed committment to getting themselves sorted out.
They are not waiting around for assistance that may never come - they are getting up off their behinds and making it happen for themselves.
What a different mindset they have to the one I see in our country. South Africans would do well to take a page out of their book - get up off their rear ends and just get going!
Nikki is an internal auditor and business administration specialist and can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or www.viljoenconsulting.co.za.
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