29 Jun 2016

The Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency’s (CEDA) Francistown office has to this day assisted businesses with a total of P177 million.

Mr Thabo Thamane, CEDA’s chief executive officer, said during a customer appreciation day in Francistown on June 23 that the amount was nine per cent of the total of CEDA’s portfolio. 

Mr Thamaae explained that a total of P116 million went to the services sector such as retail, hospitality, salons and transportation; P42 million to agri-businesses; while P19 million assisted the property and manufacturing sector. 

He said, with the current country’s import bill, the P19 million was still low; as such, he called on entrepreneurs to come up with businesses that could help reduce the bill. 

The CEO said a total of 567 employment opportunities were created, adding that since 2007 when the Young Farmers Fund was started, a lot of projects so funded in the north encountered challenges such as unfavourable weather conditions.

 He, however, commended some farmers such as Ms Kagiso Johane from Ditladi who managed to stand the test of time. 

He said Ms Johane was one of the farmers whose farms had continued production even at a time when Shashe River, which was used for irrigation, had dried up. 

Mr Thamane said one of the sectors that were faced with endless challenges was the textile industry.

However, he applauded Francistown Knitters for standing even at a time when the manufacturing industry was in a crisis. 

He also commended the Destiny Car Rentals Company for succeeding in penetrating a territory infested with competitive giants. 

He said, as part of availing its services to the farthest places, CEDA would soon avail mobile services to augment the December 2015 development of installing offices with electronic feedback machines. 

He added that CEDA had partnered with Botswana Post to help its clients to service their loans without having to go to the CEDA offices. He further said very soon the agency would launch a microfinance facility to assist the informal sector as the current services did not cater for them. 

The managing director of Chevron Contractors, Mr James Kgalajwe, thanked government for coming up with a business facility such as CEDA. 

“Before CEDA, most entrepreneurs had a problem with accessing funding from commercial banks due to lack of security,” he pointed out. He also applauded CEDA for introducing an affordable facility to cater for the informal sector because that is where a lot of Batswana are found. Mr Kgalajwe called on CEDA officials to revisit their turn-around-times in terms of responding to applications because the delays had often led to prices increasing before approval. Ends