By Seleoe Nonyane
Lesotho Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) in partnership with Entrepreneurs Network (TEN) will hold a gala dinner on March 18 2022. The dinner will be held at Victory Hall from 18:30pm to midnight.
It is expected that those attending the event should wear black ties.
The objective for the gala dinner is to thank all the companies that have contributed in the fight against Covid-19 pandemic for the past two years of 2020 and 2021.
Most of these companies are members of LCCI. The organisation is holding the event to thank and award such companies for taking a stand against the pandemic.
At the dinner, there will be an oil painting showcase done by one of the profound unnamed Mosotho artist in the country.
Speaking on behalf of TEN Rethabile Shale, said that LCCI and TEN’s mandate is to grow the small to medium businesses in the country. It is at this event where efforts to grow small businesses will be encouraged.
“At the event we will introduce a platform where Basotho small business will be allowed to sell their products,” Shale said.
The Chamber is a national and broad based business association- open to all business activities in Lesotho.
Lesotho Chamber of Commerce and Industry is a non-profit organisation with the following objectives:
• to support the transformation and growth of Lesotho’s economy.
• to advocate, inform, participate and engage with policy and decision makers for reforms.
• to promote a conducive business climate in Lesotho.
• to collaborate with public sectors in formulating and implementing policies that support job creation and employment of more Basotho.
• to promote economic growth of the entire business community regardless of race, sex, creed, religion and/or privilege.
• to promote fair and competitive business practices.
• to make LCCI more relevant to its members and focus on delivering needs-directed chamber services to our members.
• to serve our members with new innovative business approaches.
• to share knowledge, experience and resources through an established network of national, regional and international contacts.
• to promote SMME, and NEW entrepreneurs’ growth and development through various initiatives and programmes
• to become a strategic vehicle for the participation of member businesses in social responsibility programmes.
The government of Lesotho announced a comprehensive relief plan in 2020 to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the nationwide lockdown on Lesotho’s private sector at the time.
Government injected M500-million from the public coffers into this fund. This was in addition to the Disaster Relief Fund, which budget of M698-million. Additional funding towards this initiative would be obtained from source like the World Bank, IMF and the European Union.
The Covid-19 crisis is affecting entire world economy and that of Africa, including Lesotho. Some key sectors of the economy are already experiencing a slowdown as a result of the pandemic. The business sector, to a larger extent the small and medium enterprises, are visibly impacted. However, invisible impacts are expected this year regardless of the duration of the pandemic.
After the first infection in China at the end of 2019, the disease has continued to spread across the world. No continent has been able to escape this virus, which has recorded average mortality of around 2.3 percent.
Declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on March 11 2020, Covid-19 has become a global emergency, given its impact on the entire world population and the economy.
Lesotho’s fragile economy has taken a battering as a result of the lockdown, and the SME sector has suffered more after the informal sector was forced to close down.
