… as South African BRICS Women Business Alliance appoints Invest Lesotho owner head of Lesotho chapter.
Mohalenyane Phakela
LOCAL entrepreneur, Lineo Nare, who was recently appointed chairperson of the Lesotho branch of the South African BRICS Women Business Alliance (BWBA-SA), says she has hit the ground running in her new role to help uplift Basotho businesswomen.
Ms Nare’s appointment was made during the 15th summit of BRICS nations, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, which was held in Johannesburg from 22 to 24 August 2023.
As head of the BWBA-SA in Lesotho, Ms Nare is expected to spearhead the upliftment of local businesswomen. The entrepreneurs will be assisted by the BRICS Women Alliance network to access international markets, thereby growing their businesses.
Ms Nare is the owner of Invest Lesotho, whose portfolio includes farming, construction, distribution of gaseous fuels and pharmaceuticals, among others.
The BWBA-SA represents women-owned businesses and the broader micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises in the BRICS community.
Ms Nare was first nominated for the BRICS Women Business Alliance Lesotho chapter post through a 21 June 2023 letter written by BWBA-SA chairperson, Lebogang Zulu.
In the letter, Ms Zulu outlined what is expected of Ms Nare.
“Our expected deliverables include developing collaborative partnerships between various industry players, academia, civil society and governments of BRICS member-states aimed at cooperating for mutual benefit in growing and strengthening southern Africa, the African continent and BRICS economies; formulating strategies, developing programmes and facilitating partnerships with relevant stakeholders including other working groups members and BRICS member-states to unlock economic opportunities for building capacity, growth and development of Women Entrepreneurs and SMMEs in general within BRICS and the African continent at large; developing collaborative and mutually-beneficial partnership with government and industry players in a bid to pull in operational resources for the Southern African chapter of the Alliance, working very closes with all South African national, African and relevant business communities in driving the growth of she-power and gender-equity in the broad business sector,” Ms Zulu’s letter read.
The South African chapter of the alliance, Ms Zulu added, was keen to ensure the country and continent leverage their close trade and investment ties with all BRIC member-states for economic growth and positive socio-economic impact.
The alliance, Ms Zulu added, was also keen to “pull in strategic partners to build a continental capability in technology governance, research and commercialisation with a focus on accelerating gender-equity in the just energy transition programmes driven by the continent; facilitate collaborative partnerships with like-minded businesses and institutions to support commercial participation and growth of women entrepreneurs in the main, as well as micro, small and medium sized enterprises.”
In an interview, Ms Nare told the Lesotho Times she had hit the ground running and the target was to create around 30 000 jobs for Basotho over the next 12 months.
“I have been entrusted to incorporate enterprises in Lesotho for them to trade with BRICS countries smoothly. The focus is to generate a global economy. BRICS has presented opportunities to Africa for it to achieve Africa’s Agenda 2063. We are targeting sectors of manufacturing, textile, agri-business, mining, tourism, trade and investment, among others,” Ms Nare said.
“Our pilot project will be launched in October this year whereby we will have a large chicken farm which will supply China. We are going to source chickens locally, so we urge Basotho to produce in large quantities. We are also currently in talks with India for it to set up a pharmaceutical company in Lesotho. Lesotho is rich with water and indigenous plants. There are also many factory shells which are not operational here in Lesotho and the plan is to attract investment from BRICS countries in order to uplift our economy. The target is to at least create 30 000 jobs within a year from now.”
She also said WBWA-SA had sponsored the upcoming Women in Tourism Southern Summit and Expo to be hosted by Women in Tourism Lesotho Association (WITLA) next month at a venue to be announced.
Ms Nare further said she had many projects in the pipeline, which she would reveal in due course.
She again said BWBA had partnered with China’s Huawei Technologies and Hisense to train Basotho in creating content about Lesotho’s product offering, which will in turn be broadcast on TV BRICS online channel, in order for the local produce to reach international markets.
She also said the plan was to ensure local products are accredited for them to be sold in foreign markets.
“Our target is to bring women to the mainstream. There are a lot of opportunities which we just need to channel,” Ms Nare said.
“Lesotho needs a private sector-led economy so we can stop relying on politics. The duty of the government would just be to formulate policies that enhance and protect the business environment. Most Basotho have ideas but lack the capacity to produce. We are going to create a network of women in business. We want to create food security through BWBA.”
Ms Nare said the BWBA also has members in Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Ivory Coast.
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