A new generation of entrepreneurs in Southern Africa

What's the link between a small company producing leather bags, an entrepreneur transforming local fruit like marula into high value food products, a young female entrepreneur developing her own fashion line of clothes, a small business producing plastic bottles for table water, all in Botswana, and a chain of four star hotels in Mozambique? These are just a few examples of innovative projects assisted by the Centre for the Development of Enterprise (CDE) through the European Development Fund (EDF). In Botswana, the companies are upgraded through the Private Sector Development Programme (PSDP), a Government of Botswana initiative supported by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the European Union, the Centre for the Development of Enterprise (CDE) and the Botswana Confederation of Commerce Industry and Manpower (BOCCIM). PSDP Botswana is increasing the capacity of 100 SMEs in the sectors of manufacturing, agro industry, tourism, ICT and public works to deliver competitive products and services as well as guiding them to access finance and larger markets. In Mozambique, CDE partnered with the National Institute for Tourism (INATUR) to develop the grading system for the hospitality sector. All these enterprises also have one element in common: they are managed by a new generation of entrepreneurs that share a vision: to upgrade their businesses through the development of innovative products and services in order to penetrate local, regional and international markets.