The Projects | Citizen Economic empowerment
The much touted citizen economic empowerment program, which gained traction in 2021 following the enactment of the Economic Inclusion Act by parliament, has to date received much needed backing from the financial services sector, closing in the gap on the one thing that has been hindering citizen businesses from penetrating lucrative markets – access to financing.
Leading mining companies, in particular Debswana, the country’s flagship and biggest procurement spender after government, has taken the lead, putting a peg on the ground with a target of P20 billion citizens spend by 2024, creating 20 000 jobs in the process.
Morupule Coal Mine, the wholly state-owned coal producer, has also made commitments to citizen economic empowerment, establishing a fully-fledged CEEP office, with the goal of creating a shared citizen spend value of 50 percent and support 3 000 jobs by the year 2027.
All these commitments have received financial backing from the country’s financial services sector with leading commercial banks, development funding institutions and purchase order financing entities pledging a total of P7.705 billion to citizen suppliers of both Morupule and Debswana with more pledges in the pipeline.
DEBSWANA CEEP
Debswana Citizen Economic Empowerment Program (CEEP) is anchored by the company’s ODOT 2024 strategy, “One Dream One Team’’, that seeks to “Unlock Greater Value to Create a Better Future for Batswana whilst Optimizing Shareholder Value” which is aligned to Botswana’s Vision 2036 goal of Achieving Prosperity for All.
The CEEP execution matrix is focused on access and management of funding; governance policies and procedures; creation of a conducive business enablement environment; and the high returns are expected around entrepreneurship capacity building; with next big returns around industry development and diversification and stakeholder collaboration and communication.
Debswana CEE program is delivered through a blend of initiatives such as localisation of long term strategic contracts; skills and entrepreneurship development; partnership with Original Equipment Manufacturers; creation of citizen opportunities in local repairs and maintenance sector; industry development in the repairs and maintenance sector by investing in repairs and rebuild centre for Botswana; and leveraging Debswana’s supply chain and influence local manufacturing in the mining industry and other sectors of the economy.
Speaking at a Citizen Economic Empowerment plenary session during the Global Expo in November 2022, Debswana Senior Project Manager Mr Wanatsha Moakufi said CEEP is part of Debswana’s broader socio-economic development programmes. “We do have a pedigree on delivering on health, education and sport development. We spend around P120 million per annum on socio-economic development. To us, CEEP is about socio-economic development in Botswana. When it comes to CEEP, we are fully committed. We have put pegs on the ground. In 2019 we stated clearly that we will deliver a shared citizen spend value of P20 billion by 2024 and create 20 000 jobs,” he said.
“We have realized that through entrepreneurship that is how we can be able to be competitive as Batswana. We have full programmes, on supply development and enterprise development, it is about industry development and diversification which is why we are interested in PushaBw. We are not only procuring locally, we also make sure that we develop industries and services” he added.
“What is making all these possible is the partnership. Stakeholder collaboration and communication is key. We have partnered with banks for access to funding, partnered with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for Supplier development programme. Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC) on local repairs and services. Botswana Chamber of Mines (BCM) on local manufacturing. Partnered with Botswana oil – the biggest contract to happen to Botswana this year”.
P4.7 BILLION COMMERCIAL BANKS PLEDGE TO DEBSWANA CITIZEN SUPPLIERS
Debswana 2022 citizen spend stands at 38% as of end of August 2022 against a target of 40% and created a shared citizen spend of almost BWP10 billion (2019-2022) cumulative shared citizen spend.
Local commercial banks (including NDB and CEDA) have pledged BWP4.7 billion for the supplier development programme and to date 100 companies have benefited from the period 2019 to 2022.
A total of BWP923 million has been advanced to citizens with the funds used for employee salaries, operating costs and acquisition of mining equipment such as drill rigs, crushers, trucks and light delivery vehicles.
MORUPULE COAL MINE CEEP
The 50-year-old Morupule Coal Mine is currently going through massive transformation from primarily mining coal for BPC electricity generation to being a world-class coal producer for the global market.
The company recently commissioned its open cast operation and also launched its new corporate strategy that seeks to deliver P3 billion revenue by 2027, citizen companies are being prepared to benefit from this expansion.
“We strongly believe that empowering Batswana to own businesses can help reduce our national import bill. We have a plan to achieve 50 percent citizen spend supporting 3000 jobs by 2027,” said Morupule Coal Mine Board Chairman Dr Bonnie Matshediso during the company’s new corporate strategy launch early October.
“We have a duty as a responsible company to make sure that Batswana are prioritized in access to the economic opportunities that may result from our operations, and we have full commitment in doing just that.”
Morupule Coal Mine says it commits to leveraging its purchasing power and influence to achieve socio-economic development objectives through its Citizen Economic Empowerment Programme. Through the CEEP, MCM has partnerned with other corporate organizations and the Government of Botswana to drive socio-economic transformation and growth.
Core to the MCM CEEP is delivering on increasing the participation of Botswana citizen-owned Small, Micro to Medium Enterprises (SMMEs) in the MCM supply chain, which in the long-term, will de-risk and enhance the capacity and sustainability of the local supply base.
Understanding that socio-economic development problems are complex, the MCM CEEP looks to cultivating an ecosystem through engagement and collaboration with key stakeholders; ensuring that doing business for a citizen-owned business is made seamlessly easier within the local market.
With the goal of creating a shared citizen spend value of 50 percent and support 3 000 jobs by the year 2027, the MCM Citizen Economic Empowerment Programme since May 2022 has set out to collaborate across the socio-economic development value-chain in locally and regionally.
P3.05 BILLION FOR MORUPULE COAL MINE CITIZEN SUPPLIERS
The company has also joined hands with the financial services sector, to unlock access to finance and capital for Morupule citizen suppliers, with a P3.05 billion pledge by commercial banks and financing institutions.
Access Bank has pledged P1.2 billion, while Stanbic Bank, FNB and ABSA have each set aside P500 million, with TICANO coming at
P250 million. Bank Gaborone has come forth with P100million.
MCM also has a partnership with Botswana Chamber of Mines to drive import substitution through promotion of local manufacturing, as well as a partnership with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on supplier development capacity building.
