26 May 2021

The revised Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) guidelines launched in July 2020 have made doing business locally easier than before, says the CEO of the agency.

Briefing the media recently on the developments achieved so far Mr Thabo Thamane indicated that from July 2020 to March 2021 CEDA received about 6400 applications to be funded for business alleviation and sustenance. 

He further explained that the businesses were funded at a tune of P624 million and created 8410 jobs.

Moreover, Mr Thamane underlined that the agency focused on special sectors which included mining, agriculture, technology and innovation, construction, manufacturing and tourism. 

With specific reference to the special sectors Mr Thamane clarified that P313m was approved to support various successful businesses that submitted applications. 

Mr Thamane expressed sincere gratitude towards businesses that turned up for their call for funding citing that the businesses had purposefully stood up to bring change in the economy of the country. As for the Letlhabile product Mr Thamane said the agency had disbursed P35m towards assisting businesses to overcome impeding challenges brought about by COVID-19 pandemic.

He emphasised that the threshold for funding stood between P500 to P10 000, with eligibility criteria made easy for businesses to qualify for the product. 

However, Mr Thamane reiterated that for the Industry Support Facility a tune of P11.6 million was approved and used to support businesses with working capital to thrive during the pandemic mentioning that all businesses assisted had a turnover not exceeding P10m.

He said one of the pressing criterion put forward was for these companies was to sign a declaration not to retrench staff upon benefiting from the product. 

Mr Thamane recapped that the companies that benefitted here were from the services sector and out of the businesses that came forward only P1.3m was disbursed to support companies in the manufacturing sector.

‘The agency stands to encourage companies in the manufacturing sector to come forward to apply for the available funds and reduce the import bill,” he said. Ends