05 Nov 2023

A new Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) office in Tsabong is expected to transform the district business landscape, bolstering citizen participation in Botswana’s economy.

The move was said to be in line with one of the government’s top priorities of addressing poverty, unemployment and income inequality.

Minister of Entrepreneurship Mr Karabo Gare made the assertion during the official opening ceremony of the 13th CEDA satellite office on Friday.

Mr Gare said the country was sparsely populated, which made it costly to take services countrywide.

He nonetheless said government was determined to bringing services closer to the people to facilitate them to fight poverty and ensure financial inclusion of every Motswana.

Minister Gare said government’s intention was to facilitate employment creation.

He said to live up to that expectation, government continued to come up with ways of creating a conducive environment to do business,  adding that, Parliament recently passed the Citizen Economic Inclusion Act with a target of ensuring every Motswana was included to participate in growing the economy.

He emphasized that seamless implementation of business processes by key players must ensure timely action to ensure that processes were efficiently executed when doing business.

Minister Gare said citizen companies participation in the Botswana Stock Exchange remained low. “We have a long way to go. Remember that it is possible for companies from Tsabong to participate in the stock market,” he said.

He further said Botswana was an economy in transition, aspiring to transform from a resource base to a knowledge based economy, from middle income to an upper income, from a government led economy to a private sector led one.

Thus, he said the opening of the new office was a progressive development.

He also called for responsible use of CEDA loan facilities to benefit Batswana. CEDA CEO, Mr Thabo Thamane implored aspiring entrepreneurs to optimally make use of their services by coming up with high impact businesses, which could add value to economic growth.

Mr Thamane said the new 13th CEDA branch manages a portfolio valued at P117.4 million, which covers Hukuntsi where P54.2 million of the portfolio covered the agribusiness sector.

He said CEDA was working towards diversifying investment in manufacturing, tourism, energy, technology and innovation as value chains grow.

The new branch would services 22 villages and CEDA will continue to improve its accessibility to every Motswana physically and through online platforms.

Kgalagadi South MP, Mr Samuel Brooks said the re-opening of the office in the district was not a walk in the park as more work was done behind the scenes to bring it to reality.

MP Brooks said Tsabong district was a small stock hub with challenges of water shortage.  

Kgosi Piet Kartze said he hoped that small, medium and micro enterprises would be boosted by CEDA and ultimately transform the business landscape of the district. Ends