23 Jun 2024

Botswana’s quest for a more robust and inclusive economy, the realisation of which will primarily result from the nation’s evolution into a knowledge society, has seen government launch a multi-pronged campaign to lure foreign investors into the country.

With government playing a lead role through the creation of a conducive environment necessary for a thriving entrepreneurial space through the removal of bureaucratic bottlenecks, parastatals on the one hand play an important facilitative role that investors willing to set up shop in the country need for a seamless landing.

Led at the fore by President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi, the investor-wooing campaign gathered members of Germany’s business community on Friday, coaxing them to consider Botswana as they sought to expand their business footprint across the world.

President Masisi assured them of a more than ideal business environment characterised by among many factors, a sound foreign policy, a comprehensive legislative framework, and a well-coordinated ease of doing business strategy.

These cogwheels, together with other similarly crucial factors such as a culture of peace and a strong adherence to democratic ideals and tenets, make setting up and operating a business in Botswana a well-oiled machine, the operation of which both local and international investors should enjoy.

“Botswana has market access opportunities because of her centrality in Southern Africa; the Southern African Development Community market with 366 million people and a combined GDP of US$60 billion,” said President Masisi.

This sprawling market adds on to several other perks including a competitive tax regime, part of which is a 15 per cent corporate tax for manufacturing and for companies registered with the International Financial Services Company (IFSC), duty-free imports of specialist plant and machinery for manufacturing purposes as well as an educated workforce suitable for driving production.

Botswana Investment and Trade Centre CEO, Mr Keletsositse Olebile attests to the combined effect of these factors, attributing to them Botswana’s position and reputation as the most unique place for investment in Africa.

“The first thing in terms of the investment climate is that we deliberately decided to repeal foreign exchange controls in 1999, positioning Botswana as the central landing point for international investment that is looking for opportunities across Africa,” he told the potential investors, and urged them to also be alive to the fact that Botswana consistently enjoyed good sovereign credit ratings.

Another bonus for Botswana-based investors is access to every corner of the world through the preferential arrangements that were made possible through the multiple bilateral and multilateral trade agreements that the country has with several countries.

While their business presence in Botswana is pretty infant, the campaign to stir the interest of the German investors is gaining traction. Four years back, Mr Rainer Schorr through his company PRS Family Trust, joined the handful of his countrymen in Botswana, and set up business operations within the hospitality sector in the Tuli Block region.

“As part of our expansion plan we considered various countries in Southern Africa including South Africa, Namibia and Botswana, and choosing Botswana was a very easy decision due to its excellent reputation,” he testified, mentioning also how the country’s political and economic stability had influenced their decision to expand business operations to Botswana.

Zimbabwe native, Mr Kumbirai Chipadza of Kuchera, a Germany-based start-up company that operates in the mining technology space finds the Botswana story so enamouring that it has reawakened in them the keenness to spread wings to the Southern African country.

“We are very keen to get into the Botswana market. What is also important to us as a start-up is that we don’t want just to come with German technology, we want to partner with local start-ups so that we create business opportunities that can create employment for young people,” he said.

With operations going on in South Africa and Zimbabwe, Kuchera now has sights set on Mozambique, DRC, Zambia and now Botswana for possible further expansion.

The company’s line of trade and Mr Chipadza’s mention of partnerships appear to make a good fit for the Botswana business environment as government at the moment is aggressively pushing its innovation agenda while simultaneously encouraging skills transfer to locals through strategic partnerships with foreign business entities.

Though Botswana’s economy can be likened to a library from which investors are free to choose a book of their own liking, some sectors have been identified as prime for both economic transformation and evolution, and international investors are encouraged to choose from those.

Manufacturing, cross-border value chain linkages, agro-processing, and e-mobility and its associated components are some such sectors in which foreign investment is encouraged. ENDS