Kutlo Motseta
5th November 2026
Botswana Development Cooperation (BDC) hosted its inaugural “Botswana Investment Forum” at Fairgrounds Holdings in Gaborone under the theme: “Capital. Enterprise. Growth.”
The purpose of the forum is to bring investors and the business community together, to form connections and relationships that bring ideas into action.
The keynote speaker, Vice-President and Minister of Finance Ndaba Gaolathe, commended BDC for bringing people together and advised investors to face the reality that Botswana will not soar into the future with the business models that have taken it thus far and will have to work on other financial and business models to sustain and grow the economy.
“How do we finance the next chapter of our development,” said Gaolathe.
He said, “This development model that has helped transform us into a upper middle class economy… the fundamentals that were important, have changed … e.g. supply of diamonds … together these development underscore the urgency of diversifying of economy. Botswana cannot finance the economy of tommorow by using same financing model as yesterday … the wealth of tommorow cannot rely of wealth beneath under our soil, but competitiveness of our enterprises and genuity of our people.”
The Vice President spoke about a recurring theme at the conference, the importance of ease of doing business, cooperate governance and efficiency of institutions which creates confidence and attracts capital.
“We do not need more institutions but we need the ones we have to work more efficiently to deliver greater impact. We must never mortgage the future of our children through poorly structured financial arrangements,” he added.
He spoke about the relevance of the ruling government’s brain child, Botswana Economic Transformation Program.
“The economy does not diversify because it identifies new sectors but when enterprises merges and products reach new markets. Through BETP we are looking to build diversified exports,” said Gaolathe.
With regards to the access and practicality of gaining support to do business, he said Batswana should not be sent from pillar to post or need to understand the entire financing system to find a partner who can understand and support their business ideas.
He urged business entities to work together to stimulate productivity.
“(We must) move away from enterprises working alongside one another but move towards institutions working together as a part of a larger symphonic orchestra where access of one enables soaring success of the next,” said Gaolathe.
The Minister of Trade and Entrepreneurship Tiroeaone Kealeboga Ntsima said Batswana should ensure they deliver competitive products and that the country needs investors who offer more than just money.
“We must look beyond size of our investment markets …our businesses must be competitive and meet the expectations of our customers. Botswana gladly welcomes investments that bring more than capital but technology, skills access to markets, opportunities that advance beyond expressions of interest,” said Ntsima.
The Managing Director (MD) of BDC Oteng Keabetswe, spoke about the importance of confidence being instilled in venture capitalists.
“Money is not in short supply across the world, confidence is,” said Keabetswe.
Keabetswe added that it is the people who sit behind projects that inspire confidence. He discussed the changing business climate Botswana is facing including the geopolitical wars.
“Wars and geopolitical rivalries have put spanner in the works for doing business …shipping energy and food prices trade have gone up,” said Keabetswe.
He said the United States of America’s, tariffs have negatively affected Botswana as have the American led AGOA agreements and added that Trumps decisions including withdrawal of aid over the last few months “show how markets and open and close in split seconds.”
Keabetswe spoke about the climate shocks, which are affecting international harvests and said economies that make their own food will be more resilient in the future.
He added that BDC intends to invest where there is economic impact, to multiply capital with investment and build a world class investment team. He said BDC intends to invest a US$ 5.5 billion into the economy by 2031, create 25 000 jobs, recycle US$ 2 billion worth of assets into new investment and have a group return on equity of 6%.
The MD of Red Couch Advisory, Ms. Sharon Bwanya, advised that people often mistake Africa for a single country with unitary business principles.
“Africa is more than a monolith … yet when we talk, we talk as if we are one country with one play book. What works in Accra will humble you in Harare, a strategy in Windhoek will give you lesson’s in Gaborone,” said Bwanya.
She said attitudes vary across the continent and further said investors look at a country’s adherence to the rule of law, the efficiency of its court’s system, the length of time it takes to process permits, the availability of water, electricity, healthcare, quality of youth, youth education levels and the practical realities on the ground.
