By Kefiloe Kajane
Local business mogul Sam Matekane has laid his hands on an award offered by Forbes as the Best Africa Leading Entrepreneur of the year.
Speaking to the media this week after winning the award Matekane said it was a pleasure for him to have been chosen to represent Lesotho and Basotho on a continental and global stage by the Foreign Investment Network (FIN) in partnership with Forbes.
He said he could not have achieved that without the support of Basotho over the years, remarking that Basotho should embrace the award as “the nation and see it as an ignition that will propel them to achieve more.”
He explained that the award is given to African entrepreneurs who have performed excellently throughout the years. He said he is humbled of being one of those whose work is recognised as outstanding making him mindful of the responsibility that lies ahead.
“I am aware that I have to play a role to serve my nation as the agent of change in the business sector. I have certain aspirations, which I firmly believe are achievable if people can work together. The business sector in Lesotho and Africa as a continent, need to unite on the fight against the current Covid-19 pandemic. This pandemic presents a great opportunity to harness the capacity of the African scientist, the corporates, the governments as well as the development partners to engage in manufacturing of a vaccine and enhance testing and care for Covid-19 patients.
“Out of 54 countries of the African continent, only five are engaged in vaccine manufacturing, namely Egypt, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia. We have to know what constraints we have as Africans to manufacture the vaccine and start addressing those gaps. It is time Africa stands on its own two feet and address its own development challenges. I therefore appeal to all relevant role players locally and in the region to find ways of expanding the capacity of vaccine manufacturing in Africa,” Matekane urged impassionedly.
He foresaw that the role of the business sector is to set up the required manufacturing infrastructure and get the necessary steps for roll-out.
He is dreaming to see Lesotho as a self-sufficient economy and Africa united and able to address its own challenges without heavy reliance on wealthy international countries.
He envisages an array of opportunities to explore by the business sector in Lesotho and Africa as a whole.
With the natural resources that Africa has, he noted, it should be able to move from being mere consumers to being manufacturers.
“Lesotho is an example. We are one of the countries with the best diamonds but we still do not have businesses that process the diamond. My dream is to see Lesotho setting up diamond firms and opening more businesses for diamond jewelry and polishing in this country.
“The 35 years that I spent in business, have taught me one that nothing is impossible. If South Africa can be so advanced in some respects, so can Lesotho. It is time to build the country that we want,” Matekane concluded wisely.
