03 Oct 2018

Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) CEO, Mr Thabo Thamane, has called for collaboration with the North West District Council to improve citizen empowerment in Ngamiland community so that they benefit from services offered by his organisation.

He said it was important to identify ways in which the Ngami community could be assisted, saying there was a low uptake of CEDA services in Ngamiland despite efforts by Maun branch to embark on an outreach programme in most of the villages.

He told councillors during a meeting that Ngamiland had spent P35.7 million since the beginning of 2018 to date.

“We need to engage each other to see how best we can empower our community so that the benefit from CEDA services, which are aimed at assisting entrepreneurs with funds,” he added.

Mr Thamane cited programmes such as Mabogo Dinku, which was introduced for low income class, noting that the community was still dragging their feet to take advantage of the initiative.

The programme targeted small business owners who wanted to expand. 

He reported that only 137 beneficiaries had been funded to the tune of over P1.5 million, of which 93 per cent are women and 28 per cent are young people. 

In Maun, only 111 applicants had benefited and created 118 jobs, in Shakawe 10 had been funded and created 12 jobs while in Gumare eight had been funded and created 12 employment opportunities.

Mr Thamane revealed that in Sehithwa and Toteng no one had been funded and urged the councillors to come on board and encourage their communities to grab the opportunity and improve the livelihoods of the communities.

Mabogo Dinku initiative, he said was easily accessible and popular because it required no business plan, but an existing micro-medium business. The initiative offers short-term loans from P500 to P150 000 per person, payable in three to 12 months to citizens, to assist in growing businesses.

Mr Thamane also highlighted that the initiative has proved to be producing positive results as beneficiaries have saved a lot of profits. 

Commenting to the presentation, some councillors stated that people have interest to take up the projects, but they were discouraged by shortage of land.

Cllr Kenson Kgage said some had been funded and ended up diverting the funds because of the delay in allocation of plots. 

He also pleaded with CEDA to be lenient with beneficiaries operating tourism businesses as the business was seasonal in nature and it was difficult  to service their loans as per agreement.

Cllr Grace Moleta urged CEDA to consider exempting the 10 per cent up front payment, especially for the affirmative action group. She said many people at Phuduhudu were interested in applying for funds, but were challenged to pay the said 10 per cent. ENDS