15 Apr 2018

Citizen Entrepreneurship Development Agency (CEDA) deputy chief executive officer, Mr Andrew Madeswi has expressed concern over low intake of the institution’s services  and products by Ngamiland community.

Addressing kgotla meeting at Sehithwa recently, Mr Madeswi said in Ngamiland district, they had spent P11.7 million on 76 projects.

He said CEDA had assisted 6 500 businesses to the tune of P4.3 billion and created 60 000 jobs across the country since its inception. 

Therefore, he appealed to the residents to take advantage of services offered by CEDA, which were aimed  at assisting entrepreneurs with funds.

Mr Madeswi also said CEDA would  like to see the numbers of beneficiaries increasing and creating more employment opportunities.

On CEDA mandate, Mr Madeswi highlighted that the institution played a critical role in the economy by providing entrepreneurship development, through funding and training.

Despite CEDA’s efforts to advertise its services and products, he said it was worrying that Batswana still fail to utilise their services to improve their livelihoods. 

He pointed out that CEDA provided subsidised loans for various micro-entrepreneurs to enable citizen participation in enterprise development.

Mr Madeswi encouraged residents to take advantage of the Mabogo Dinku initiative, which assist small-scale entrepreneurs.

He said Mabogo-Dinku loan provided entrepreneurs with funds for their needs such as working capital and small asset finance.

The initiative, he said offered short-term loans from P500 to a maximum of P150 000 per person, payable in three to12 months to citizens, to assist in the growth of their businesses. ENDS