October 2018

By Thabang Letsatsi 

1."Youths must study to be self-employed, no more brown envelopes."

95 % of us are not entrepreneurs by nature (including we who preach self-employment). It's not a surprise then that most youths feel insulted by this self-employment chorus. 

No, let's not ask the youths to self-employ beyond what they are already doing, let's create self-standing businesses that employ masses and let's financially support small existing businesses to help them hire more.

This National University of Lesotho (NUL) made pot, branded “Pitsa,” looks simple but it is not your normal pot! Because of its numerous uses, it may as well be the pot that marks the start of Lesotho’s industrialisation. “A list of things capable of being professionally made from this pot is endless,” said Mr Setlhare Jane who along with his research team members, Lesia Matlali and ‘Marethabile Jane, have been working on Pitsa for quite some time.

Following in the footsteps of the European Union (EU) and other regions around the world, African countries are seeking to integrate their economies. This is done in the hope of simplifying and increasing trade between African countries and boosting their economic growth. However, do efforts to bring economies closer together work, at least in the context of Africa? “It worked for Europeans, at least to some extent, but there has been little evidence it could work in Africa,” says Dr Mamello Nchake, an Economics Lecturer at the National University of Lesotho (NUL). 

Last week, we promised to reproduce a letter of appreciation written by young bright minds from Africa who did a bridging program in the National University of Lesotho (NUL) Department of Economics. Here is the letter. 

"We express our deepest gratitude to the National University of Lesotho (NUL) and in particular, the Department of Economics for the vigorous face-to-face tuition in Economics over the last six weeks. We don’t know if it is possible to convey in words the sense of gratitude we feel.

Ms Papali Maqalika-Mokobori, a lecturer at the National University of Lesotho (NUL) Department of Consumer Sciences is doing what others dare only whisper in corridors. She is taking steps to localising Lesotho’s massive textile industry. She and her students are already practising concepts of mass production of clothes and her factory will be part of the much anticipated NUL-LNDC Industrial Park.