13 Aug 2020

Citizen Eentreprenuerial Development Agency (CEDA) provides funding to beneficiaries, including women, as they graduate from different programmes and seek funding to expand their projects.

The Assistant Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Mr Karabo Gare, said this when answering a question in Parliament on August 12.

He said CEDA provided financial and technical support for business development with a view to promote viable and sustainable citizen owned business enterprises.

“This arrangement is found to be sound in ensuring that programmes work in a seamless manner,” Mr Gare said.

He also said since inception, CEDA had invested P5.6 billion towards 11 256 citizen owned businesses creating jobs for 66 698 people.

Furthermore, Mr Gare said it was worth noting that 41 per cent of the investment was towards startup businesses across all sectors of the economy.

Additionally, he said the agency had provided total funding of an amount of P1.6 billion towards women and to date, 5 969 women had been assisted.

“It is worth mentioning that the agency has developed women centred products in the past since 2016 where it has introduced Mabogo-Dinku. To date, 2 196 with total investment of P21, 941,281 were funded,” he said.

Mr Gare said CEDA introduced Letlhabile in May to assist the informal sector that was dominated by women saying  as at the end of July, the agency had assisted 3456 clients with an amount of P15.7 million of which 2030 or 59 per cent were women.

Additionally, Mr Gare told Parliament that CEDA’s revised guidelines had identified women amongst  special groups that might be discounted for requirements such as security requirements.

He also said the ministry was directed to consolidate economic empowerment programmes that were being implemented by different ministries to ensure effective management of resources.

He explained that consultations on the consolidation of the programmes had been concluded and the report thereof was being finalised.

“It is therefore our considered view that CEDA in its current approach towards funding, plays a significant role towards supporting women to start businesses and or grow and sustain their businesses,” he said.  Mr Gare  was answering a question from MP for Nata-Gweta, Mr Polson Majaha, who asked if time had not come for government to consider utilising grants from gender affairs to assist unemployed women or women groups who wished to be involved in business as contribution to unlock CEDA assistance. ENDS