Letshego Botswana continues to lead with solutions that are accessible and responsive to the evolving needs of their customers. A case in point is their Invoice and Purchase Order financing that they launched in 2016, offering P200, 000 and have recently doubled their borrowing limit from P1, 000 000, to now offer Micro and Small Entrepreneurs (MSEs) with up to P2, 000 000 to enable them to fund their venture and project needs. Letshego’s Micro and Small Entrepreneurs strategy supports micro and small businesses that would have otherwise struggled or failed to obtain short-term project financing and venture capital.
“We are committed to delivering relevant solutions that truly provide value for our customers. Our invoice and purchase order discounting solutions enable our micro and small entrepreneurs to focus on the critical aspects of growing their businesses and promote long term sustainable economic growth and job creation through the development of a vibrant entrepreneurial sector, particularly as they manage through these challenging times caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Letshego Botswana CEO, Fergus Ferguson said.
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) represent a key sector for driving economic diversification and sustainable growth. According to the World Bank, SMEs make up 35% of GDP and contribute 75% to formal sector employment in Botswana. Micro and Small Enterprises therefore provide valuable economic potential for this country, to support poverty eradication, employment and economic diversification. Despite their valued economic contribution, Micro and Small Entrepreneurs often struggle to compete with high value projects, while often having to deliver projects under non-negotiable timelines.
For MSEs, cash flow remains one of the biggest challenges, and often the main reason why many small businesses fail within the first two years of starting up. The cash flow shortages experienced by Micro and Small Entrepreneurs (MSEs) are exacerbated by barriers to accessing finance, potentially leading to solvency problems. Typically, Micro and Small Entrepreneurs find it difficult to obtain bank loans and instead rely on internal funds, or cash from friends and family, to start up and initially run their enterprises.