business

Oct. 24, 2019

KABELO MASOABI

2 min read

Fokothi inventions impress PS

Fokothi inventions impress PS

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MASERU – The Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Small Businesses, Cooperatives and Marketing Lerata Pekane, on Wednesday expressed confidence in products processed by the Lerotholi Polytechnic.

His visit with his entourage to the institution was a response to a call by the vocational centre aimed at partnering with the ministry to assist in the growth and development of small businesses in Lesotho.  During the tour that went through all the school’s departments, that comprise faculties of automotive, fitting and turning, electrical installation, engineering, panel beating, craft and other administrative programmes, Mr Pekane said he was enthralled by products and services produced by students; adding the latter was competent to hit a larger market.

Among products exhibited were a top class casket manufactured by the carpentry students and electrical circuits’ models to control huge machineries designed for various purposes. “When done, my model will be able to control how a lift should behave when transporting people and goods in tall buildings. It will have control buttons that will direct it when to move and when to stop via appropriate timing and programmed speed,” a second-year student in electrical installation, Moeketsi Tjamane, told the visitors. 

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The institution’s Rector, Dr Tlali Sepiriti, appealed to the ministry to assist the school in finding open markets where their products would be sold.Dr Sepiriti, however, showed that the institution was faced with inadequacy of more advanced machines that would help to speed up productivity.“The world of trade nowadays uses computerised machines but their high cost remains a major challenge for us. A single machine can cost over a million maloti,” he added.

In his remarks, Mr Pekane said it was time the country produced finished products than selling raw materials, boldly saying “it’s time we buy and support local products.” 

“When we talk of the need to ‘buy Lesotho’ we mean it is essential to buy from Lesotho before looking to buy abroad, we call to the public to buy and consume products and services produced and rendered by the local people. This is an endeavor to improve local economy and positively impact the livelihoods of Basotho,” he appealed.

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