Micro and small businesses have become a contributor to both reduction of
unemployment and to national development. The informal small scale clothing
producers in Botswana have been supported by government through policies
directed towards poverty alleviation and employment creation. Despite the
government's efforts of availing financial assistance, technical expertise,
promotional and marketing support, the informal small scale clothing producers
do not seem to be utilising these for full benefit. Participation of the informal
small scale clothing producers at Botswana International Trade Fair was
expected to provide them with avenues for long term benefits through marketing
their products and learning. The purpose of this study was to establish the
impact of Botswana International Trade Fair on the informal small scale clothing
producers. The informal small scale clothing producers have had assistance and
access to promoting their products for a considerable time, with not much change
in the market share and quantities of production. The challenges facing these
informal small scale clothing producers has been to utilise BITF for competing
with local and regional producers in providing quality products; to increase
production for meeting the demands of the market; to increase profits, and
expand businesses to reduce unemployment.
Purposive sampling was used to select participating informal small scale clothing
producers and council Home Economists while the· independent small scale
exhibitors were conveniently sampled during the 2006 trade fair. Seventeen
informal small scale clothing producers from the eastern part of Botswana were
interviewed to establish impacts from participating at the trade fair. One
producer who h-ad won most prizes at the trade fair was interviewed for a
different perspective in production strategies employed. Fifteen council Home
Economists, acting as liaison and change agents for the informal small scale
clothing pmducers, also participated in the survey and focus group discussions.
Two case studies were developed fmm in-depth interviews with independent
small scale exhibitors to ascertain impact brought about by BITF on these
producers. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used in collecting
data. The results were analysed in terms of frequencies and chi-square
relationships.
Great similarities were found to exist between the three samples. The results
revealed that there was adequate knowledge about BITF on the informal small
scale clothing producers, as weil as with council Home Economists and the
independent small scale exhibitors. The three groups understood the objectives
of BITF to be mostly educational and followed by promotion. All the groups
reported noticeable impact to be growth in the number of customers, increase in
production, increase in assets, improvement in quality of products and addition of
newly developed products. Perceptions of the three groups on the benefits from
BITF matched what they experienced as result of participation at the trade fair.
The producers on the other hand experienced a decline in the number of
employees while the independent small scale exhibitors had an increase.
For utmost benefit of BITF, the producers have to. strengthen their marketing
strategies, during and outside the trade fair. There is need for the producers to
take initiatives to secure their own stalls for participation during the trade fair as
individuals or jointly with other producers. Producers could benefit more from
using funding from government for promotion of products. Home Economists
should support self representation by the producers so that they directly learn
from participation and eventually wean off continued support from government.
For monitoring and planning purposes, a national data base for micro and
informal small scale clothing producers should be kept by the Department of
Social Services. Benchmarking on involving micro and small scale businesses in
training is essential, and establishment of local markets for continued contact
with customers could expand producers' knowledge in production. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/4562 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Selwe, Milane Kgalanyana. |
| Contributors | Green, J. Maryann. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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