CEDA to spend P340m on projects

Keikantse Lesemela | Friday July 4, 2014 06:59

CEDA chief executive officer, Thabo Thamane told BusinessWeek that although most clients have high arrears the organisation is supporting them through mentorship and training. 

“We want to create viable and sustainable citizen owned business enterprises,” he said. 

He said while the agriculture sector has a lot of challenges they are still determined to fund enterprises on the sector. 

“We still have the young farmers fund programme and businesses under this sector are still growing and we are helping them to grow,” said Thamane. 

He explained that in most cases clients end up in high arrears because of management problems. “We are controlling these problems of high debts among our customers. We always ensure that we assess their situation and find out the reasons why they have high arrears and then we teach them to solve the problem.”

Speaking during the ISO 9001: 2008 recertification ceremony on Wednesday, Thamane said CEDA is one of the best managed agencies under the Ministry of Trade and Industry as its quality management systems has been found to be conforming to the requirements of the international standards. 

“The certification is one of the best known and internationally recognised standards for the quality management of businesses. 

This showcases what CEDA does to fulfill their customers’ quality requirements plus any applicable regulatory requirements while aiming to enhance customer satisfaction and achieve continual improvement of its performance,” said Thamane.

The certification is for three years. Thamane said the certification by Botswana Bureau of Standards shows CEDA’s commitment to quality, customers and a willingness to work towards improving efficiency.

From April 2013 to date, the agency has financed a total of 213 new businesses, with an expected domestic investment of P391 million, yielding total employment of 1,859 jobs. The businesses are in the sectors of property, manufacturing, services and agri-business and are located across the country.

Since establishment in 2001 the agency has funded more than 5,324 businesses worth more than P3 billion.