Anglo American, De Beers Botswana (Debswana) and De Beers Global Sightholder Sales have together signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Botswana government to help that country diversify its economy away from mining and diamonds.
The MoU underpins the expansion of the Tokafala Enterprise Development programme, an initiative that promotes economic diversification and job creation in Botswana through personalised business mentoring, advisory support tailored to the specific needs of the enterprise, and facilitating access to finance and market for clients.
The MoU partners will work together to continue expanding the Tokafala programme to support the growth of small, micro and medium-sized enterprises (SMMEs) in Botswana, as well as for capacity building of select governmental enterprise development institutions.
Launched as a pilot programme in January 2014, the Tokafala partnership has already delivered significant performance improvements for participating businesses, De Beers said in a press statement. This has included strong revenue growth, with participants growing revenues by an average of 39 per cent in the first two years of Tokafala’s operation. Micro-sized businesses were the biggest beneficiaries, growing by an average of 260 per cent during this timeframe.
In addition, the programme has supported more than 1,500 jobs, including the direct creation of more than 280 jobs. Participants have also received significantly improved access to finance, with more than $1 million (BWP11 million) being accessed from commercial sources.
Vincent T Seretse, Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, said: “We are delighted to be continuing our very successful partnership with Anglo American, De Beers Global Sightholder Sales and Debswana to further expand the reach and impact of the Tokafala Business Development Initiative through the signing of this MoU.
“The further diversification of Botswana’s economy and the creation of new jobs for Batswana is a key priority for government. We are delighted to have the support of our valued private sector partners Anglo American, Debswana and De Beers Global Sightholder Sales to assist us in achieving these goals and we look forward to growing the already successful Tokafala programme together.”
Anglo American Chief Executive Mark Cutifani said, “A strong and vibrant business community benefits the whole of Botswana. Through the Tokafala programme, and our strong partnership with Government, we are providing a pathway to enable motivated small and medium-sized businesses realise their growth potential and contribute to a strong and diversified economic future for Botswana.”
De Beers CEO Bruce Cleaver observed, “As longstanding partners, Botswana’s interests are also our interests and, through this MoU, our partnership will be able to support even more Botswana enterprises achieve commercial success through improved market access, supply chains and access to finance.”
Debswana Managing Director Balisi Bonyongo noted, “We have been very pleased with the success of the Tokafala programme to date and look forward to the next phase of the programme, part of which will focus on Debswana’s mining sites. We believe this is critical as it adds enterprise and business development to the legacy that we would like to leave in the areas around our mines and across Botswana in general.”
https://www.gemkonnect.com/news/anglo-american-de-beers-ink-pact-help-botswana-diversify-economy