The announcement comes after government’s decision to halt its flagship Chema Chema private sector fund, The government had in the past injected P200 million as funding for the SMEs later raising it to P500 million in an effort to support the dwindling sector, a move which Boko believes was a pittance for the struggling enterprises. “When you want private sector players to remain as small players, you give them something like Chema Chema,” he said when addressing a press briefing in Gaborone last week. “These people don’t need loans, they can’t even pay them back. They need tangible solutions like market access, and access to technologies that make their operations easier. They also need to be paid on time by government,” the President said. Boko added tgat the guidelines for the Funds of Funds will target the specific sectoral needs of SMEs, and will take a diverse approach to financing these enterprises. Earlier in February, the Minister of Finance, Ndaba Gaolathe, had shared that government had made provisions for consolidating its funding initiatives, with government considering novel ways of funding local enterprises. “The traditional, brick-and-mortar model of tying institutions directly to funding has long passed its sell-by date,” he said during the Budget Speech.
“In the New Botswana, we will explore and reimagine the role of CEDA {Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency} and the Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) with the possibility of creating a National Fund of Funds ” Ndaba said. As stated in the 2025-26 Budget Speech, the fund will enable government to design modernised high-impact investment models to allocate resources strategically. The strategy is to target priority sectors in line with “our national development objectives and also allowing disruptors and innovators including the creative industry to access funding,” he added. “In addition, to demonstrate our commitment to developing this industry, we will, through the proposed National Fund of Funds, ensure that the unique dynamics of the creative industry are considered when allocating resources, guaranteeing the industry is adequately resourced,” Gaolathe remarked.
