29 Aug 2021

Selebi Phikwe Economic Diversification Unit (SPEDU) continues to promote economic diversification and create jobs for the region.

Briefing councilors during the ongoing Selebi Phikwe Town Council (SPTC) full council meeting, the mayor Mr Lucas Modimana said despite the current economic situation, the town was still open for business.

He said to date SPEDU was involved with 90 companies, an increase from 72 companies which helped create 2184 jobs compared to 2069 jobs from the last quarter.

“This shows commitment of the district in resuscitating the local economy and reducing unemployment,” he said.

Furthermore, Mr Modimana said CEDA continued to make remarkable progress in providing financial and technical support for business development with a view to promote viable and sustainable citizen owned enterprises.

The agency through the Selebi Phikwe branch, he said had invested a total P242.9m over 2589 projects with a total employment of 5325 in the entire greater SPEDU region.

He said financial inclusion and allowing access to capital for all Batswana remained paramount to CEDA strategy.

Through Mabogo Dinku, a microfinance product that offers subsidised loans to enable citizen participation in enterprise development, he said CEDA had funded 3059 individuals creating 3591 jobs.

Another product by CEDA, Letlhabile he said had assisted 3873 micro businesses valued at P17.6 million, as a result protecting 4066 jobs, adding that Letlhabile product had been well received in the SPEDU region.

However, Mr Modimana said CEDA suffered major setbacks such as delays in project implementation and shortage of warehouses in the region.

In addition, he said some prospective businesses still had some interest to operate in the district, some of them being the Department of Environmental Affairs, which had already reviewed 13 projects briefs from different sectors such as chemical, metal, paper, tourism, textile and food processing.

He said, a total of 147 formal licenses and 348 informal licenses had been issued, creating approximately 629 jobs.

He said for now there were no applications received for tourism related licenses, there was a substantial increase accrued from tourism training levy for the first quarter of financial year 2021/22 of P58 810 compared to P14 160 for the previous year same quarter.

He said, this showed that tourism facilities were being utilised in the district, although not at full capacity.

Mr Modimana further said LEA also continued to administer the Industry Support Facility to assist them with grants, with a total of 3486 Batswana assisted by the Phikwe branch, cushioning many livelihoods dependent on the informal sector.

On other issues, the mayor informed councilors that COVID-19 had not only taken lives but also affected the global economy.

He said nationally, the inflation rate rose from 8.2 per cent in June to 8.9 per cent in July, hence exceeding the Bank of Botswana upper bound objective of three to six per cent.

He said the economy was expected to rebound by 8.8 per cent in 2021 before moderating to 5.5 per cent in 2022. BOPA