The Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) will host an open day in Chadibe on Friday, as part of efforts to expose the agency’s services to different communities across the country. The move, according to CEDA officials, will also give aspiring and already existing entrepreneurs an opportunity to engage with various entities on issues pertaining to business success.
A statement from CEDA says the agency will host an open day for the community of Chadibe and surrounding villages this Friday to ensure that communities are engaged on issues of economic diversification.
“The open days, which are planned to be held in areas where CEDA has no offices, are part of CEDA’s efforts to sensitize the nation at large on its products and services, as well as highlight its contribution to national priorities, with an emphasis on stimulating economic involvement of all Batswana,” said CEDA.
Also, CEDA said in areas where CEDA has office presence, the agency continues to engage customers through other means, such as customer forums. In the past year, customers have been hosted in Ghanzi, Molepolole, Palapye, Francistown, Kanye and Gaborone. To offer the communities an enhanced service offering, the agency has partnered with several other government ministries and parastatals, namely Ministry of Trade and industry, Ministry of Agriculture, Competition Authority, Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS), Local Enterprise Authority (LEA), Non-Banking Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (NBFIRA) and Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property (ROCIP).
“These institutions are pivotal in establishing and running of enterprises and their participation will go a long way in empowering the community of Chadibe and its surrounding areas,” read the CEDA statement.
Meanwhile, a close looks at CEDA collections indicate that last year the agency collected P132million against a target of P124million for 2013. For the financial year to end of October 2013, the agency financed 119 projects valued at P127.9 million. Of these, 72 projects valued at P59.3 million were in the services sector, 27 projects valued at P43.2 million for property and manufacturing and 20 projects valued at P25.4 million for Agribusiness.
These figures compare to a total of 197 projects valued at P197.9 million during the same period in 2012. In 2012, CEDA funded 89 agribusiness projects valued at P74.8 million, 71 services projects valued at P63.1 million and 37 property and manufacturing projects valued at P60 million.
