Debswana places multi-billion pula bet on local

Friday, May 13, 2022 | 2360 Views |

Power to the people: Debswana plans to procure at least 50% of its supplies and services from citizen contractors by 2024 PIC: MORERI SEJAKGOMO

The country’s most important economic actor, Debswana, is confident it will deliver its target of shifting P20 billion of its procurement budget to citizen-owned businesses by 2024, while at the same time ironing out the familiar troubles that have dogged similar broad-based empowerment programmes. Staff Writer, MBONGENI MGUNI reports

Debswana’s targets for its Citizen Economic Empowerment Programme (CEEP) are bold. Having started CEEP in 2019, the country’s premier diamond producer plans to reach P20 billion in citizen spend value by 2024 and create 20,000 citizen jobs in the process.

The targets are the most ambitious transfer of citizen value creation in the history of the country’s minerals sector, an industry where procurement registries are dominated by large, well-established multi-national entities and other foreign titans.

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