21 Jun 2022

Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) has created a total of 68 jobs since April, to fulfil government’s current top priority of job creation, says  City of Francistown Mayor, Mr Godisang Radisigo.

Mr Radisigo told a virtual full council session on Monday that creation of jobs further prioritised the quest to reduce the import bill and attain sufficiency in production of goods and services.

“LEA continues to earmark import substitution with a total revenue of over P4.8 million recorded as value of products targeting import substitution, in which about P4.3 million was from manufacturing and P534 505  from agriculture,” he said.

He emphasised that such endeavours contributed immensely to the economy of the region by transforming enterprises that add to the macro-economic outlook of the region and country at large.

He appealed to the procuring entities to be deliberate and intentional in procuring from clientele within the region, who had proved their mettle in the production of quality goods and services.

Mr Radisigo highlighted that from the financial year 2021/22 to date, the Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) had funded 229 businesses from applicants who operated in Francistown, with a total value of over P46 million, in the process maintaining 362 jobs and creating 544 more.

He said out of the 229 funded projects in the city, 58 were under Letlhabile at a value of P373 487, 43 businesses under Mabogo Dinku at a value of P393 362 and the remaining 171 projects were under the CEDA mainstream.

As part of the Economic Recovery and Transformation Plan (ERTP), he said the agency introduced the Industry Support Fund in November 2020, aimed at stabilising small businesses in the form of working capital loans for operational costs such as salaries, rent and others.

He added that 16 projects in Francistown benefitted from the facility at an amount of over P2.3 million for the financial year 2021/22.

He urged the councillors to be fully committed to developing and strengthening the local economy, create jobs and develop the value chains.

Mr Radisigo urged them to promote entrepreneurship and produce industrialists by being humble servants of the city in working together to claim victory against poverty and unemployment. ENDs