The Minister of Small Business Development, Cooperative and Marketing, Chief Thesele Maseribane will officially launch ‘Sethala’, a platform intended to facilitate a dialogue between the private and public sectors.
This, Chief Maseribane disclosed when addressing the media at the press conference held in Maseru on Wednesday.
According to the minister, the official launch of Sethala is scheduled for April 28 at Manthabiseng Convention Centre and will later be extended to all the districts countrywide.
Describing the Sethala, he said it is a dialogue platform that will ensure that discussions are held between two stakeholders thus private and public sectors to resolve challenges faced by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as well as cooperatives.
He noted that his ministry acknowledges the role that the private sector plays in the economic development of the MSMEs and the cooperative towards the job creation hence the collaboration in launching this platform.
The Minister added that Sethala is intended to improve collaborations between role players in the private sector to overcome the barriers to growing the Lesotho indigenous business sector as well as exploring opportunities for the development of the business ecosystems.
He further mentioned that this platform will facilitate access to markets at national, regional and international levels as well as to find resolutions of access to finance impediments.
Chief ’Maseribane stressed that Sethala will work towards the establishment of viable business enterprises across all sectors of the economy.
Talking about issues relating to the payment of the Wool and Mohair farmers, the minister stressed that his ministry is working tirelessly to ensure that Wool and Mohair farmers get paid, saying the payments will be made through Lesotho Standard bank, First National Bank and Lesotho Post Bank.
He noted that the Lesotho Post Bank will also oversee payments of farmers whose accounts have been deactivated by other banks.
He mentioned that farmers that are getting paid are those who sold their wool and mohair at Maseru Dawning in Thaba-Bosiu during the period of 2018-2019.
It is estimated that the total amount to be paid to these farmers is more than M10 million.
By Staff Reporter: Noliwe Velaphe