07 Aug 2024

Parliament has been told that the existing programmes intended for wealth creation have been consolidated under the Wealth Creation Programme under the Ministry of  Entrepreneurship.

Answering a question in Parliament, the Minister of Entrepreneurship, Honourable Karabo Gare said the programmes included the former Poverty Eradication Programme (PEP), Youth Development Fund (YDF) and Women Economic Empowerment Programme (WEE).

He explained that the Poverty Eradication Programme and Youth Development Fund have already been transferred to his ministry.

However, he said implementation of YDF still with the Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture (MYSC) for this financial year as his ministry was not yet ready to take over the programme due to lack of implementation capacity.

He told Parliament that the Women Economic Empowerment, on the other hand, has not yet been transferred to his ministry, as it was still being implemented under the Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture.

Honourable Gare explained that the current status of the mandate of Wealth Creation Programme was to improve the livelihoods of Batswana living under extreme/abject poverty.

“This is done through the establishment of sustainable income generating enterprises, as well as capacity building on business development services inclusive of business management training, market training, market access, mentoring and coaching,” said Minister Gare.

He further indicated that the Chema Chema Fund programme, was launched in April 2024 is the latest and complementary addition to the suite of programmes or initiatives.

He said its impact was yet to be measured, adding that at present, a total of 41 725 enterprises (comprising of 42 492 beneficiaries) have been funded since inception in 2011.

Minister  Gare said 78 per cent of the total funded enterprises were female owned, those with disabilities own three per cent of the total number of funded enterprises.

He indicated that 30 459 of the total funded enterprises, translating to 73 per cent, are currently operational, providing a total employment of 34 563.

He explained that about 4000 (10 per cent) of the funded enterprises had collapsed, while the remaining ones were semi-operational, mainly because of delay in supply of key raw materials e.g. restocking for broilers and layers.

On the Youth Development Fund, Minister Gare said it was temporarily being implemented under  the Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture, remains unchanged.

The programme is geared towards empowering the youth to start, and, or grow their respective enterprises and targets the youth aged between 18 and35.

To this end, he said the programme had funded 12 248 enterprises since inception in 2009.

He said 9 864, of the total funded enterprises were operational and that the loan recovery rate was low, currently at 7.2 percent.

Minister Gare emphasised that the Wealth Creation Programme remains pivotal to addressing poverty and unemployment amongst the marginalised members of our society.

MP for Selibe Phikwe, Mr Kgoberego Nkawana had asked the minister to appraise Parliament on existing programmes intended for wealth creation and their status to date. ENDS