Botswana agents lobby government for logistics school

Skills development is one
of the toughest challenges
facing Botswana’s logistics
industry, according to Lucas
Barreto, chairman of the Freight
and Customs Clearing Agents
Association of Botswana.
“We do not have a logistics
school or some kind of facility
where industry skills are taught.
Companies are therefore selfreliant
or skills have to be
brought in from South Africa or
elsewhere.”
He says gaining practical
knowledge around logistics is
easy enough but skills are often
not formally transferred to locals
– especially when international
companies bring in workers from
elsewhere in the world.
“We have to improve our skills
levels while there also needs to
be more skills transfer taking
place.”
In this regard the Association
is working hard to lobby
government to open a logistics
school – especially in light of the
growing interest in Botswana
and other African countries.
“One must remember that
just about everything in this
country is imported, so we have
a high reliance on the logistics
sector,” he said. “We have a
variety of commercial schools
and institutions in the country
but nothing that speaks directly
to logistics. We must change this
situation and create a formal
education environment for the
logistics sector so as to ensure we
have the skills to handle the large
volumes of imports moved on a
daily basis.”
Barreto maintains that too
much of the country’s clearing
and forwarding training is self
taught and not shared enough
across the spectrum.