In a bid to take the services to areas where it has no presence, the Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency (CEDA) has partnered with BotswanaPost to use Post Office facilities in a three-year deal.
The two government-underpinned organisations formalised the agreement on Friday in a move that will be piloted over a year and then maybe copied to other parts of the country, if successful.
Thabo Thamane, Deputy CEO (Operations) for CEDA, said the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) is part of a vigorous customer service management exercise that the agency is undertaking across the country.
“It (MoU) will open the way for our customers to access our products and services in areas that we have not been operating in,” said Thamane.
Under the agreement, CEDA customers will be serviced through BotswanaPost operations in the Letlhakane and Tsabong areas, where CEDA has no physical presence.
The Post Offices will facilitate the distribution, collection and submission of CEDA application forms, as well as collection of payments.
It will also provide for the timely provision of the agency’s brochures and other paraphernalia as well as providing for timely service of documents between Ghanzi and Maun.
There are areas like Shakawe that BotswanaPost operates in, but CEDA has no presence and it is hoped such places will be covered.
BotswanaPost has a network of around 120 branches, which has attracted interest from other organisations that want it to carry them along.
Already, the organisation, headed by Pele Moleta, had entered into bilateral agreements with a number of service providers to tap into its network advantage.
BotswanaPost distributes the Daily News on behalf of government, and facilitates payment of Old Age Pension, sale of airtime for Orange, beMobile and Mascom, collection of Mosako funeral scheme premium on behalf of Botswana Life.
Equally, the renewal of vehicle registration licenses is done at selected post offices around the country.
“We believe that this partnership will bring more business to both organisations and it ensures that both capitalise on each others’ strengths to provide a unique value proposition to our customers,” Cornelius Ramatlhakwane, Head of Business Development at BotswanaPost, said.
He added that BotswanaPost is working on automating its operations to become relevant in a competitive environment.
The road to the signing of the MoU started in September by committees from both camps and the expectation is that if the agreement becomes successful, CEDA might explore other business opportunities.
Already resources have been mobilised for the immediate implementation of the project.
