Peo seedlings flourishing - Khama

Speaking in an interview, the chairperson of Peo who is also the Managing Director of De Beers (Botswana), Sheila Khama, said their initial budget was P10 million.  She said Peo was established to help diversify the economy from diamonds. Another objective was to impart entrepreneurial skills to Batswana and employment creation. 

Khama said even though Peo had not been making "bucket loads of money", from their perspective, the fund's objectives have been met which, according to her, is the greater idea. Peo advances loans at 3 percent interest to small and medium scale businesses registered in Botswana, both citizen and non-citizen owned. It also buys shares and takes equity in the companies it funds.