The Ministry of Trade and Entrepreneurship Botswana and Entrepreneurship in collaboration with the Local Enterprise Authority (LEA), has initiated a formal process to gazette a standardized, legally binding national definition of Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs).
This landmark step, mandated by the Small Business Act of 2004 but never implemented aims to resolve long-standing inconsistencies in the ecosystem that hampers the coordinated support of Botswana’s SMME sector. Since the Act was passed, the absence of a gazetted definition has led to various government departments, private sector entities and commercial banks using different criteria to define SMMEs in their service offering and transactions with the sector.
This has created a fragmented ecosystem, making it difficult to coordinate support programmes, collect accurate data, and analyse the sector’s true contribution to the national economy. “The gazettement of an official SMME definition is critical for data-led policy formulation,” said Thato Jensen, Caretaker CEO for LEA.
“A unified definition will harmonise efforts across the entire entrepreneurship ecosystem, ensuring that support reaches the intended businesses effectively and efficiency.” The process will begin with a stakeholder consultation to build consensus on the definition, which is expected to be based on both the number of employees and annual turnover, as envisaged by the Small Business Act.
“The Ministry urges all stakeholders, including government agencies, private sector associations, financial institutions, and SMMEs themselves, to participate actively in the crucial consultation process.”