22 Jun 2017

The Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) is performing  relatively well in its mandate of providing financial assistance to citizen owned business enterprises, and in its collection rate, says chief executive officer, Mr Thabo Thamane.

Briefing the media in Gaborone on Tuesday, Mr Thamane said the agency was at 70 per cent success rate in collecting money owed to it by Batswana.

He said in line with the economic diversification drive of the government and fostering industrialisation, the agency had focused  on agriculture, property, manufacturing and tourism. 

Mr  Thamane also noted that over P4.5 billion had been disbursed in loans to clients since CEDA’s inception in 2001. 

In terms of job creation, he said the agency has managed to create about 6 000 jobs to date. 

On youth empowerment, he said CEDA has funded youth businesses to the tune of P600 million  over the years. 

Mr Thamane also noted that CEDA has been reducing the subvention funds it received from government over the years because it had been able to increase its collection rate.

He noted that in the past three years, the agency received government subvention of P934.7 million, and that it was able to disburse P1.9 billion after achieving a 105 per cent collection rate.

“We have been able to pay our own salaries and borrow clients this money in the form of loans,” he said.

“But aren’t you running after making profit and forgetting that you are supposed to assist Batswana grow their businesses and take them out of poverty?” asked one journalist during the press briefing at CEDA headquaters.

“We are cautious not to affect clients in our quest to meet our profit targets. Rather than collect P200 000 from one client per month we’d rather collect this amount from different businesses in order to meet our targets. We are careful to see them grow,” he said.

He noted that they had been able to come close to their targets over the years, adding that in the last financial year, the agency had set a target of collecting P283 million but that they were able to collect P265 million which was a collection rate of 94 per cent. 

Mr Thamane also noted that in 2016 CEDA continued to show improvements over the years.

He said the agency received government subvention of P326 million in 2016, but that in 2017 it was reduced to P271 million which was an achievement for the agency.

“We want to get to a situation where we do not need subvention from government,” he said.

However, Mr Thamane noted that CEDA still faced  challenges from clients who wanted to flood the market with the same products without coming up with innovative ideas.  

He also noted that the agency still received business plans from consultants, and that the business owners, once funded, showed signs that they did not understand the plan in their business dealings. 

“Some turn their cars into offices not knowing what ought to be done according to the business plan,” he said. 

He also noted that there was misappropriation of funds by about 20 per cent of the youth clientele. 

Furthermore, he said some young people managed to succeed in getting funds, but that when they visited their projects  they discovered that the projects were operated by their parents and the beneficiary was nowhere to be found. 

He also said some clients connived with suppliers to increase the prices of equipment so that the amount disbursed by CEDA was not used on what it ought to be used on. 

“In such cases we blacklist the client,” he said. BOPA