One of Botswana’s leading financial institutions, the Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA), shined last week as it scooped position one in the Financial Institution category at the just ended BOCCIM Northern Trade Fair.
Speaking to the Sunday Standard, the Marketing and Brand Executive at CEDA, Gabriel Tlagae said that the victory is a symbol that CEDA does things differently and is committed to offering quality service to its customers.
“We are an organization that is customer oriented and we do things differently from other organizations. Our motto is primarily to develop, finance and sustain businesses,” he said.
He added that they used the BOCCIM trade fair to expose six of their clients that they funded from Francistown, Machaneng, Mahalapye, Palapye and Tonota. Tlagae also said CEDA has also won several other awards, adding that recently they scooped an award from the Ministry of Trade and Industry as the best parastatal.
“Our Chief Executive Officer, Thabo Thamane, cannot stop talking about how the lives of Batswana are improving ever since the inception of CEDA. We have also gone an extra mile on offering business advice to our clients,” he said.
Tlagae added that the BOCCIM Northern trade fair is a good platform for them as CEDA because they get to share information and network with other organizations. He also added that they normally reach out to rural villages as they hold open days in villages, address council meetings and even Kgotla meetings.
“Our request to Batswana is that they should take advantage of our services and better their lives. We primarily finance Agri business, Property and manufacturing services, structured finance and Equity finance,” he said.
Touching on this year’s BOCCIM Northern Trade Fair theme, “Unlocking opportunities for citizens to participate in growing the economy of Botswana,” Tlagae said that CEDA is a citizen financial institution that caters for and supports Batswana businesses. He said that by doing that, CEDA is empowering Batswana to actively participate in growing the economy.
“We are also in line with Botswana’s Economic Diversification Drive (EDD) to try and help diversify the economy,” he added.┬á“We also helped to renovate “Bana ba Letsatsi Centre for Orphans” in Maun.”
