13 Jun 2021

Bank Gaborone has injected P200  million into the Debswana Citizen Economic Empowerment Policy (CEEP) programme.

The CEEP, which aims to capacitate citizen companies to participate in the Debswana supply chain, came into effect last year.

Speaking at the launch of Bank Gaborone and Debswana partnership in Francistown last week, Bank Gaborone head of wholesale banking, Mr Khalala Mokefane said the money would finance deserving businesses that were part of the Supplier Development Programme (SDP).

“The P200m will be centralised and managed through the wholesale banking division to enable the bank to be the best capacitated to play a key role in the SDP,” he added.

Mr Mokefane further indicated that apart from financing, the additional mandate of the bank within the programme would be to monitor the utilisation and success rate of the programme and to proactively manage risks involved in using SDP.

“We take our role as a financial partner incredibly seriously, and we saw this platform as an opportunity for us to step in and provide the necessary tools for Botswana businesses that we believe require and deserve a chance to go against the best in the world and to succeed,” said Mr Mokefane.

The partnership, he said, actualised the commitment from the partners to drive the creation of opportunities for citizen suppliers and Bank Gaborone’s contribution to the socio-economic development of Botswana by empowering citizen-owned SMMEs and their ecosystem.

“We are excited and proud to be a part of this ground breaking initiative and we believe it will change the lives of Batswana significantly in the near future,” he added.

Mr Mokefane explained that the bank looked forward to more opportunities and challenges posed to find more innovative ways to provide support.

Giving a keynote address, the mayor of Francistown, Mr Godisang Radisigo stated that the city had over the years become a formidable centre for economic activities in the country.

He explained that Francistown continued to grow through various infrastructure development projects as well as through its continued partnership with its citizens from across the board into a regional business hub.

“In focusing our efforts on our economy, we have always emphasised the role and participation of the private sector in building our country.

Bank Gaborone’s aim to support local businesses with financial solutions and the partnership with its stakeholders had proven to be a great deal in the sustainability of the financial sector.

He explained that SMMEs businesses had been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, which had slowed down growth.

Mayor Radisigo noted that SMMEs were critical to the economic development of any country as they contributed towards the Gross Domestic Product, employment creation, poverty eradication as well as economic diversification.

He further stated that initiatives aimed at citizen economic empowerment such as the SDP did not only capacitate local businesses through skills development, but enabled them to access markets and finance to increase meaningful participation as citizen suppliers in the Debswana supply chain.

“Debswana to this end reserved certain goods and services for citizen suppliers with additional benefits of procurement price preferential margins. This is indeed a welcome development,” he added.

Mr Radisigo explained that the P200m pledge by Bank Gaborone was a huge and highly sustainable contribution that would enable the beneficiaries to empower others.

“Without a genuine and serious contribution by the private sector and companies such as Bank Gaborone and Debswana, the development of the communities and the economy at large would lag behind, he said. ENDS