MASERU — Vodacom Lesotho has sponsored the Maseru Bazaar, to be held on Sunday at the Maseru Club, to the tune of M100 000.
The Bazaar is organised by the Lesotho Tourism Development Corporation (LTDC) together with its partners.
Announcing the event at a press conference this week, LTDC public relations officer Tšiu Shale said Maseru Bazaar would showcase the products of some of the small businesses in the country.
“The products that will be on display are those made by small enterprises, these include products made of leather, grass, mohair and other goods produced locally,” Shale said.
Shale said 10 young Basotho entrepreneurs would display their products at the fashion court.
“These are up and coming designers and this event will be a platform for them to show their talent and to make business connections with clients both locally and internationally since we expect some international tourists in the country to come and see what Lesotho can offer,” said Shale.
Setlaba Monaheng, business development officer at SMME Support Network, said the event was good for small local businesses as it made their products known to potential customers.
“The main weakness of small businesses is that they expect instant sales; however for the business to be sustainable there should be a market for their products. So an event such as Maseru Bazaar will offer them an opportunity to make business connections and make their products known to potential customers,” said Monaheng.
He said the main aim of his organisation was to help small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) through training on how to handle their businesses.
“We are an organisation that offers services and we assist small enterprises, this is through the co-operation with our partners,” said Monaheng.
“We work with organisations such as BEDCO, which is an organisation that deals with local entrepreneurship development, which include development of SMMEs in the country,” he added.
Monaheng said since the inception of this event there had been an improvement in product quality and diversification and this was expected to help provide sustainable business when entrepreneurs introduce new products in the market.
Vodacom Lesotho public relations officer Thabiso Mlungwane said the Bazaar would give his company an opportunity to expand its subscriber base as it was a platform to meet customers both new and old.
“This also gives us an opportunity to do business as big companies and we also support the development of small entrepreneurs as their contribution in reducing unemployment is very significant,” he said
“The success of businesses results in an increase in economic growth which is good for any country.” Mlungwane added.
