The project, the result of collaboration between CEDA and the Centre for Development of Enterprises (CDE), is designed to strengthen and build SMEs' capacity in order to improve the quality of small business owners' financial records and enhance their competitiveness and commercial viability. Speaking during the official launch in Palapye on Monday, CEDA business advisory manager, Petrus Sebina, said the objective is in line with CEDA's mandate to develop and nurture the development of viable small and medium enterprises through training and mentoring.
"The initial phase of this project was co-funded by CDE to the tune of P550,000 with CEDA contributing P340,000 thus bringing the total cost to P890,000," he said."Eighty SMEs from Palapye, Francistown and Gaborone will receive Pastel Accounting training, installation and support."Sebina said CEDA had noted that the operation of businesses was not properly managed due to the absence of reliable records. "This Pastel roll out has been conceived in the backdrop of inadequate or lack of record-keeping amongst majority of SMEs and the need to standardise record keeping system among CEDA funded SMEs," he said."This poor record-keeping has dampened the running of businesses including but not limited to poor decision-making, poor cash flow management, failure to identify important business trends and the collapse of many enterprises."The CEDA business advisor added that lack of a reliable record-keeping is amongst the top reasons SMEs fail to access funding from banks, potential investors, and grow their businesses. He noted that a reliable record keeping system could not be over-emphasised and would highly benefit the business owners.
