25 Feb 2024

The Ministry of Entrepreneurship and parastatal organisations have devised initiatives intended to address challenges experienced by entrepreneurs, says Minister of Entrepreneurship, Mr Karabo Gare.

Mr Gare noted that funding and capacity building was provided to marginalised groups through the wealth creation programme to mitigate such challenges. 

He further said some specific interventions provided by government and parastatals included training and mentoring of business promoters, technical support during project implementation, provision of marketing skills as well as restructuring and rescheduling of loans where necessary to enhance the project’s success.

Additionally, he said CEDA had implemented various mechanisms aimed at measuring its funding impact on Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMES) whose sustainability was measured through two distinct approaches. 

He said the green fields survival rate was used to measure the number of start-up businesses which have been operating for more than three years as compared to the total number assisted in the more than three years. He said the number of expanding businesses which have been operating for more than three years was expressed as a proportion of the total number of assisted businesses older than three years through the brown fields survival tool.

Mr Gare noted that between June 2019 and June 2023 the overall survival rate for both categories was 86 per cent, with 83 per cent average for start-up businesses against the targeted 81 per cent and 88 per cent for expanding businesses against an 84 per cent target.

Furthermore, the minister noted that 1 114 of the 7 960 projects funded by CEDA during the same period failed translating to a 14 per cent failure rate. He said the failure was caused various factors including failure to comply with loan offer conditions by the promoters, breach of deeds of cessions by promoters, lack of business and management skills, unwillingness to be guided by CEDA or assigned mentors, failure to penetrate or maintain the market as well as failure to employ sound business practices such as good record keeping.

The MP for Gaborone North, Mr Mpho Balopi had asked the minister if he was aware of any impediments  towards entrepreneurial success in Botswana and what government was doing to assist them to succeed. 

He also asked about the success rate of businesses funded through CEDA between June 2019 and June 2023, and the number of Batswana funded businesses which failed within the same period and the causes. ends