By Seleoe Nonyane
The Lesotho National Development Corporation (LNDC) has included women-led businesses in its strategies in order to ensure that they thrive.
This was revealed by the acting LNDC chief executive officer Molise Ramaili during a three-day Women In Tourism Southern Africa (WITSA) Summit 2023 which ended in Maseru on Wednesday.
The forum champions women in the tourism industry and value chain. It stimulates the tourism promotion agenda within the region under the support of the SADC Secretariat.
Its major focus was to bring together key stakeholders in the industry to forge strategic alliances and contribute to regional economic growth.
Ramaili said one of the biggest impediments to businesses growing in the country, especially women-led businesses, is access to finance.
He said for a business to grow it will have to approach commercial banks to receive funding and the banks need a clear record of the venture.
But it is difficult, especially for a starter as commercial banks are very risk-averse.
Ramaili noted that since risk is on top of the agenda for bankers, and LNDC has come up with different financial instruments that will catalyze women-led businesses particularly those in tourism.
“We have a partial credit guarantee and we are delisting all projects that are in different sectors including tourism because tourism is part of the National Strategic Development Plan II of the government.
“This means that businesses will approach financial banks to apply for loans through the normal policies. However, there will be a need for additional collateral, so that is where the LNDC comes in where we provide a guarantee of 75 percent to delist the loan.
“Eventually, the business will qualify and the bank will disburse. I have seen there is a shortcoming when it comes to the partial credit guarantee scheme but it has been performing very well. From 2021 to date more than M180 million has been disbursed to commercial banks assisting local businesses,” he pointed out.
The LNDC boss said they have seen the need to go the extra mile and assist more businesses.
He indicated that the investment promotion agency has a Project Preparation Fund through which businesswomen can get assistance.
“This is where we assist with the expertise of conducting feasibility studies, of coming up with good business proposals that will ultimately drive the business to its capability,” he explained.
He mentioned that the initiative has been successful as it has assisted some start-ups. LNDC has put aside M10 million for the Project Preparation Fund and invites women-led businesses to come forward for assistance.
