Tokafala Success Leads To Extension
Isaac Pinielo | Monday February 6, 2017 16:54
The Tokafala business skills advisory programme, which aims to promote economic development and employment creation through Small Macro Medium Enterprises (SMME) support, was started on January 1, 2014 under a three-year contract to December 31, 2016.
It is a partnership between the Botswana government, Anglo American, De Beers and Debswana. According to the Tokafala programme manager, Robert Wiggins, the programme has surpassed expectations in the three years of operation, which led the donors to extend it.
“Based on the success of Tokafala, the donors decided that the programme should continue to be carried out for more years to be aligned with the national Vision 2036,” he said. He indicated that the programme has exceeded its target as it saw a revenue growth of about 260% in the businesses that were assisted.
Wiggins stated that so far there are 267 businesses that benefited through the business development mentorship.
He clarified that Tokafala does not provide funding but provides specialised access to finance to the beneficiaries by packaging loan applications on behalf of the participants and take them to financiers such as Barclays Bank, the Citizen Empowerment Development Agency, BancABC, Bank Gaborone and First National Bank. “We have been very successful in this area as we have seen most of our beneficiaries succeeding in securing funding from various financial institutions,” said Wiggins.
Tokafala has therefore placed advertisements in local media platforms announcing about its extension and also inviting Batswana businesses that have been operating for at least six months to submit their applications before February 24.
“If your application is successful you will receive tailored implementation support including sales and marketing strategy to get more customers and maximise revenues, financial record keeping made simple, allowing you to use your financials for strategic decisions, and growth strategy to plot the critical steps to take your business to the next level,” reads an advert in one of the newspapers. Earlier on, it was indicated that the government and Anglo American Services Limited agreed to contribute $3,953,134 (P37.55 million) and $3,957,726 (P37.60 million) respectively.
The government was expected to contribute $450,000 in the first year, $420,000 for the second year and $510,00 for the third year.