The Botswana Office of the President/SmartBots has requested support from the Africa RISE programme to develop a digital business package for women to enable them to engage in the economy and thrive in this digital-economy age.
Botswana has adopted the government Digital Transformation Strategy (SmartBots) in order to gain a strong position within Africa and the world as a “Smart Society”, with broader use of technology expected to grow exponentially in the coming years. This will lead to multiple benefits for the country, e.g. increased business opportunities and hence trade for the private sector, optimised service delivery by Government and its various institutions, an effective governance model that uses technology to engage and better serve citizens’ needs, all leading to an improved quality of life for its citizens. This strategy responds to the country’s National Vision goal to transform Botswana from an upper-middle-income country to high-income status by 2036.
Specifically, SmartBots seeks to strengthen the capacity and expertise of public and private sector workers and entrepreneurs to allow for inclusive professional growth, produce knowledge workers who can adapt to new challenges that Digital Transformation brings, increase jobs opportunities and strengthen businesses; it will also enable more effective work across agencies and deliver efficient service to citizens and businesses.
The SmartBots programme aims to leave no one behind. Meaningful digital inclusion will provide opportunities for women, youth, and the elderly to engage in the economy in order to meet their daily needs and to improve their skills, productivity and marketability in the digital-economy age.
One of the most startling barriers to inclusion is that of female entrepreneurship and the survival of women-led businesses, which continues to lag behind that of businesses led by men. Data on computer usage in Botswana clearly show that women entrepreneurs have gaps in skills, as do some groups of youth and people with disabilities (PWD). Examples from other countries have shown that government can play a role in addressing obstacles to digital entrepreneurship through schemes that build digital and entrepreneurship skills, including through education, training programmes or facilitating peer learning. This proposal, to initiate a Digital Business Package for Women Entrepreneurs, specifically aims to respond to these issues.
Assessment should be both qualitative and quantitative.
Undertake a literature review on major barriers women entrepreneurs face with a special focus on women entrepreneurs in Botswana that prevent women from building sustainable businesses. Make recommendation for mitigation of the challenges.
Undertake a literature review on major digital skills barriers to successful entrepreneurship that prevent women (including women in Botswana) from realizing their full potential or stopping them from even beginning an entrepreneurial career.
Relevant documents many of which have been attached and others you will have to research include but are not limited to:
Draft eCommerce Strategy for Botswana
Financial Management Challenges – A case for women entrepreneurs in Gaborone
“Distinguished” women entrepreneurs in the digital economy and the multitasking whirlpool
Female Entrepreneurship in the digital era
Women Entrepreneurship and digital technologies: Towards a research agenda
What potential does digital entrepreneurship have for being inclusive?
SMEs go digital
Strengthening women’s entrepreneurship in ASEAN
SheTrades Outlook – Botswana profile available on https://www.shetrades.com/outlook/home.
Undertake a thorough review of the current Botswana business and digital economy regulatory environment, fiscal/financial incentives, entrepreneurial culture for MSMEs in Botswana.
Assess the current state of digital involvement for women entrepreneurs in Botswana’s economy to measure the digital readiness of the women, document an ideal state for women to be able to compete in the digital world and provide actionable recommendations to close the gap.
State the framework/methodology used for the assessment and how it helped with your stated conclusions.
Highlight a manageable number of priority digital initiatives (package of solutions) for Government to promote, e.g. supporting policies, platforms and mechanisms for building digital skills, access to opportunities for women entrepreneurs, and propose ways to measure the success of these initiatives.
Draft an eCommerce Strategy for Botswana highlighting a manageable number of priority digital initiatives for Government to promote.