Consumer Watchdog
Encyclopedia
Botswana
Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana , is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. The citizens are referred to as "Batswana" . Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966...
and based in Gaborone
Gaborone
' is the capital and largest city of Botswana with a population of 191,776 based on a 2006 survey, about 10% of the total population of Botswana....
.
With newspaper columns in both the national daily newspaper Mmegi
Mmegi
Mmegi is an English-language national newspaper in Botswana. Established in 1984, it is now published daily by Dikgang Publishing House in the capital, Gaborone. , Mmegi is Botswana's only independent newspaper to be published daily....
and the country's best-selling newspaper The Voice
The Voice (Botswana)
The Voice is a print and online news company operating in Botswana. The Voice began as a newspaper in Francistown in 1993 as The Francistowner Extra; in 1999 it opened offices in the national capital, Gaborone....
every Friday, as well as a blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
, Consumer Watchdog has a wide reach regarding consumer issues in Botswana.
Originally set up in 2005, Watchdog has the following ambitions:
- To campaign for legislation to protect the consumer
- To represent consumers and advocate on their behalf
- To make service providers in Botswana accountable
- To educate consumers about their choices, their rights, their responsibilities
Services delivered by BES, the parent company of Consumer Watchdog, include customer service training
Customer service training
Customer service training refers to teaching employees the knowledge, skills, and competencies required to increase customer satisfaction.- Audience :...
, organisational review and mystery shopping
Mystery shopping
Mystery shopping or a mystery consumer is a tool used externally by market research companies or watchdog organizations or internally by companies themselves to measure quality of service or compliance to regulation, or to gather specific information about products and services...
.
On 31 May 2007, Consumer Watchdog celebrated its second birthday party, with His Excellency the President of Botswana Festus Mogae
Festus Mogae
Festus Gontebanye Mogae is a Botswana politician who was President of Botswana from 1998 to 2008. He succeeded Quett Masire as President in 1998 and was reelected in October 2004; after ten years in office, he stepped down in 2008 and was succeeded by Lieutenant General Ian Khama...
as the Guest of Honour. 180 customer service champions were celebrated in front of the president, the press and the people.
Consumer Watchdog representatives have worked widely with companies in Botswana and southern Africa, including major banks in Botswana.
They also work with the government, insurance companies, retail outlets and restaurants.