THE RISK OF EMPHASIS ON ENTREPRENEUR SKILLS AS A DRIVER FOR SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS PERFORMANCE IN BOTSWANA: A CASE STUDY.

Studies show that many parastatals and governmentsdepartments worldwide Botswana included are over-supporting and value the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills as a key driver for business performance through various intervention programs. The support is reflected in the effort and amount of scarce resources that are committed to pre-tertiary, tertiary and post-tertiary levels of training to impart entrepreneurial skills. Entrepreneurial skills of creativity and innovation (unique business idea), among others is perceived by private and public resources supporters of business promoters as a basic requirement for viability. This effort directed towards reducing the risk of business failure, has so far not yielded anticipated level of results. Many business projects fail within the first few years of establishment despite of the resources support provided to the promoters. This article seeks to explore the reasons attributable to the failure of such well-planned and initially well-executed business ventures. Twenty business investments covering different industry sectors at varying investment levels in Gaborone were purposefully sampled, observed and interviewed, in addition to archival literal studies. The studies and entrepreneurial interviews, when qualitatively analyzed reveals that successful performance of a business venture continuously requires surmountable business management skills with varying levels of unique combinations of entrepreneurial skills along the business investment life cycle. These findings are presented in a practical E-M business model that is a suggested remedy to the failures.