By: Tlalane Tibisi
Maseru
Lesotho Competitiveness and Financial Inclusion is dedicated to ensuring that the objectives of the National Strategic Development Plan are realized by seed funding the private sectors which are youth and women owned. This is one of the steps taken to establish private sectors lead employment for Basotho.
Thus far, CAFI has incubated a hundred of start-up businesses in its two cohorts and will be up to one hundred and fifty by the end of this year with the third cohort being said to start in August in the current year. This project began in 2022, started running November 2023 and will be running for six consecutive years.
By June 2028, CAFI ‘s target is to have incubated five hundred start-up businesses. In every cohort, the program selects five Enterprises Support Organizations to incubate ten Small and Medium sized Enterprises each.
Lerato Masupha, the CEO of Pay Lesotho, one of the SMEs that were incubated in the first cohort of CAFI emphasised that before the incubation, Pay Lesotho faced challenges like technical resources, industry mentorship and securing crucial banking partnerships to mention but a few. He continued to highlight how vital CAFI’s support was as it offered structured guidance, access to industry experts, exposure to potential investors, funding and networking opportunities.
“Their backing helped us refine our business model, strengthen our regulatory compliance approach, accelerate partnerships like our ongoing discussions with Lesotho Post Bank for Bank Identification Number (BIN) sponsorship and pushing our initiatives forward at a much faster pace. More than just a financial support, the program gave us the tool to build a sustainable business in the fintech space.” Said Masupha.
Moreover, Masupha expressed that even though they have always been committed to their vision, being under CAFI’s incubation program gave them competitive edge that they would have not achieved on their own. “Their involvement has helped us navigate challenges more efficiently and position ourselves as a key player in Lesotho’s digital payments ecosystem.”
Masupha concluded by showing gratitude on how CAFI has not been just an incubator but has also been a strategic partner in the Pay Lesotho’s journey in transforming digital payments in Lesotho. He also believes that CAFI represents opportunities, growth, empowerment and a commitment to fostering innovation in Africa’s fintech space and ensuring that start-ups like Pay Lesotho have enough resources to thrive in the entrepreneurship landscape.
In the similar way, Tšepiso Serabele who is the co-founder and the managing director of Weekly Observer which was also incubated in the first cohort of CAFI, believes that CAFI is a very good initiative to empower small businesses to reach a level of creating jobs for Basotho and for money to be circulating within the country.
When it comes to her business, Serabele said that when they first started Weekly Observer, they were just a trio doing what they believed had to be done while they were not making money from the publication. Nevertheless, things changed for the better with the incubation from Limkokwing Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program and CAFI.
She further stated that they were able to learn more about business operations and business management for its sustainability and for it to generate profit. Therefore, from this improvement, the growth began to be recognizable even from the number of sales, clients and their reach.
Serabele went on to say, CAFI equipped them with the necessary skills and now they are able to pass that on as they have had amazing collaborations with Climate Change Technologies Research Institute in educating communities about the Sustainable Development and how best to adapt to ongoing chances such as climate.
To continue, Serabele stated that she firmly believes that by 2028, Weekly Observer will be one of the 50 businesses to through acceleration. “I definitely believe we’ll grow and be ready for acceleration in 2028. We actually are ready to push further.”
In her parting words, Serabele suggested that CAFI should create a program that holds events for their incubates from all the cohorts where all the enterprises can connect and meet potential investors because it is not always about money, sometimes it is all about meeting the right people.
In conclusion, the Lesotho Competitiveness and Financial Inclusion offers the best program in the country when it comes to ensuring wellbeing of youth and women owned enterprises. It equips the incubates with the much-needed funding, mentorship and anything else that an entrepreneur needs to be industry ready.