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Empowering the
Businesswomen of Botswana
WIBA
WIBA’s goal is to help Botswana businesswomen get to the next stage in their development and growth….whether it’s to register an informal business, expand the range of products, manage resources more effectively, become export-ready, or promote laws that help women operate their businesses more easily…
WIBA will keep close collaboration with key partners like private sector organizations, parastatals, non-governmental organizations (NGO’s), governmental organizations and many others.
To provide a focal point dedicated to promoting, coordinating, collaborating and networking among women in urban and rural areas.To encourage women ownership of business, especially in areas representing good potential for growth.
The Women in Business Association (WIBA) was formed in 1990 as a committee of BOCCIM (Botswana Confederation of Commerce, Industry & Manpower).
It is an independent, non-governmental orga-nization with the objective of assisting all women in the business sector.
WIBA is now represented in the BOCCIM National Council but is treated as a separate sector representing women. The Association is also affiliated with the Botswana Business Coalition on Aids (BBCA), an organization set up to promote private sector action to fight the effects of HIV/AIDS on businesses in Botswana.
Through its work with public and private sector stakeholders in the Botswana, WIBA hopes to achieve:the evolution of an indigenous Botswana Wo-men In Business Entrepreneurship Program;
- the self-development by training on entrepreneurship skills to all the members.
- The integration of local, regional and international linkages of business to all members
Specific activities towards this end include:
- Soliciting of local sponsor organizations in support of WIBA’s visions;
- Sharing best practices on a national level with members and all stakeholders;
- Organization of fundraising events at a national level;
- Facilitation and coordination of awareness campaigns in the form of fairs, exhibitions, raffles, etc.
Since 2005, WIBA has been collaborating closely with the USAID Southern Africa Global Competitiveness Hub’s Trade Facilitation and Capacity Building project. The main objective has been to explore ways to strengthen the Association so that it can grow and so that gender issues can adequately be addressed by the Government of Botswana in the process of making policy decisions that affect the busi-ness environment.