BECI eyes bigger role in Botswana’s economic growth
Larona Makhaiza | Thursday October 8, 2026 13:39
BECI CEO, Segametsi Sethantsho, said the institution’s next chapter would focus on strengthening partnerships, improving businesses’ capacity to manage credit and risk and facilitating access to finance and new markets.
Sethantsho said BECI’s ambition was to go beyond marking three decades of existence and become a key enabler of Botswana’s future economic development.
“Our ambition is therefore not simply to be an institution that survived 30 years. Our ambition is to be an institution that will enable the next 30 years of Botswana’s economic growth,” she said.
Sethantsho noted that businesses were operating in an increasingly complex global environment, with evolving risks facing investors, exporters and financial institutions.
She said this required BECI to become more innovative, responsive and commercially focused to meet the changing needs of the economy.
“Businesses need more than finance,” she said. “They need the knowledge and capacity to manage credit, to understand risk, to meet their contractual obligation and confidently enter new markets.”
Sethantsho said BECI also intended to work with state-owned enterprises, funders and other partners to strengthen business capacity, particularly among SMEs and emerging exporters.
She identified agriculture, manufacturing and tourism as some of the sectors presenting opportunities to diversify Botswana’s economy, adding that the institution would seek to build on its experience in supporting significant transactions and projects.
“The next step is to strengthen our capacity and support even larger and more complex cross-border opportunities,” she said.
Sethantsho stressed that BECI’s future growth would also be guided by responsible business practices, including stronger corporate social responsibility and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) approaches.
She said the institution’s impact should extend beyond the businesses it supports towards benefitting the communities in which it operates in order to contribute to broader national development.
“The next 30 years will be about turning risks into opportunities, confidence into investments and ambition into sustainable economic impact,” she said.
She added that BECI’s success would ultimately be measured by the opportunities it helped unlock, including increased access to finance, expanded regional market participation, greater investment inflows and job creation.
Sethantsho stressed that Botswana needs to participate more effectively in a diversified, export-led economy, with businesses equipped to compete.