The force behind Botswana’s capital market
Pauline Dikuelo | Tuesday October 13, 2026 12:10
Mmegi: Take us through your career journey and how you eventually came to lead Listings and Trading at the BSE. Mmolai: My first job out of university was as an Investment Accountant at Botswana Insurance Fund Management (Bifm). I then took a detour from capital markets into the insurance sector through a stint as a Branch Manager with Metropolitan Life. Eventually, I returned to capital markets by joining the BSE as a Listings and Trading Operations Officer in 2008. I have enjoyed the challenges and the impact of this sector and have settled here at the BSE since then. I worked my way through the ranks until I was promoted to Head of Department in 2013.
Mmegi: How different was the BSE when you joined in 2008 compared with the Exchange today? Mmolai: When I joined, trading was still physical. The Exchange was a mutual organisation controlled by member brokers and had a complicated governance structure. Client service turnaround times were, at best, haphazard. Today, the transformation is profound. Settlement and depository operations are automated, trading is electronic, the Exchange has been demutualised, and its corporate governance is harmonised with that of the World Federation of Exchanges. We are now working on tokenisation and online order placement by retail clients. If you spoke to our clients and asked them, we have, knock on wood, outperformed ourselves year-after-year. We are now implementing the 10Xby30 Strategy.
Mmegi: What is the core mandate of the Listings and Trading Department at the Botswana Stock Exchange? Mmolai: Our mandate is to ensure that issuers are onboarded onto the Exchange in accordance with the regulations that safeguard the credibility of the market. However, our role does not end once an issuer is listed. We ensure that listed issuers continue to meet their obligations under the laws of the country and the listing requirements. We also onboard brokers and dealers under the Members Rules and ensure that they advise and trade for the public in an ethical manner.
Mmegi: How do you balance strict regulation with the need to encourage innovation and market development? Mmolai: In cooperation with our capital markets regulator, the Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (NBFIRA), we apply market rules with a developmental mindset. For the country and its people to progress and not be left behind, liquidity has to improve, and innovation has to be allowed to lead regulation.
Mmegi: Regulation is often viewed as a burden by businesses. Why do you see strict compliance as a competitive advantage for the BSE? Mmolai: Issuers have told us that the reason they are happy to stay listed on our market is that we are disciplined in applying the rules fairly and consistently. It seems to me, therefore, that our strict compliance enforcement is a selling point.
Mmegi: How do you build trust between the Exchange and market participants? Mmolai: We believe that the market rules are a living compact with market participants. They are given an opportunity to review them regularly and make suggestions. Our annual Requirements Refresher Workshops play a big part in maintaining this harmony. Investors and the public in general rely on us to list only issuers that respect compliance. Anyone we list is therefore able to receive capital from investors because they have confidence in us.
Mmegi: In 2018, the BSE changed its approach to attracting listings. What prompted that shift? Mmolai: We decided that we needed to pursue an inclusive approach to increasing listings. We realised that in Botswana, as elsewhere, the majority of businesses are SMEs and growth-stage businesses.
Mmegi: What has been the impact of the Tshipidi Mentorship Programme? Mmolai: The Tshipidi Mentorship Programme was introduced to help entrepreneurs understand what it means to operate as compliant corporates before they list. To date, it has produced 80 graduates. We became more open to everyone and stopped giving an elitist impression. People in the market now feel increasingly comfortable approaching us and asking, “How do I become part of the market?” This has enriched the pipeline.
Mmegi: What are some of the biggest misconceptions about listing on the BSE? Mmolai: The biggest misconception is that listing carries a high regulatory burden. Others believe that it is prohibitively expensive, that it is only for 100-year-old elite companies, or that companies must be profitable before they can list. We host listing workshops to educate anyone who has these questions, including special board sessions when requested. The mentorship programme has also opened the eyes of participating entrepreneurs.
Mmegi: The BSE appears to be experiencing a healthier pipeline of potential listings. What is driving this? Mmolai: Our sustained efforts over the years to educate local businesspeople about public listing are paying off. Banks are charging more for debt. Businesses have taken on enough debt and are now at a point where they need to raise equity capital. Some founders are also at a point where they are ready to release equity. Private equity is also a factor. Whilst private equity is still available in abundance, exits have to happen eventually, and we have successfully presented ourselves as an ideal option for these types of exits.
Mmegi: How important has leadership been in converting this pipeline into actual opportunities? Mmolai: Both my Board Chairperson, Neo Mooki, and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Aupa Monyatsi, have taken deliberate strategic actions to convert the pipeline. It is clearly working. The ownership of the pipeline sits with the Market and Product Development teams, but we are seeing greater diversity, from reinsurance and fuel and lubricants to SMEs now daring to dream of a listing.
Mmegi: Beyond the Exchange itself, what does increased activity on the stock market mean for Botswana’s economy? Mmolai: The level of activity on a stock exchange is generally a representation of the level of activity in a nation. With more activity on our market, we expect higher levels of job creation. Government will also be able to collect more taxes from newly released liquidity, whilst retail investors and pensioners will receive dividends and recognise capital growth as price discovery improves. As a self-regulatory organisation mandated by NBFIRA, we credit the regulator’s wisdom for allowing innovation. A well-regulated market will continue to deepen as it attracts more listings. A deep market, combined with positive government legislation, will attract even more investors from across the world. More investors and issuers will attract more jobs and tax revenues.
Mmegi: How does a deeper capital market fit into Botswana’s ambition to diversify beyond diamonds? Mmolai: Our 10Xby30 Strategy aims to make the BSE a torchbearer for impact, and our vision is to make our country the capital-raising hub for Africa. If the capital markets sector grows significantly and Botswana becomes a serious alternative to Mauritius and South Africa for doing business in Africa, we will start earning significant revenues from sectors other than diamond mining.
Mmegi: The BSE has introduced products beyond traditional equities. What is your vision for the next phase of market development? Mmolai: Innovation is already underway. Under 10Xby30, the BSE has introduced new products. However, products mean nothing without participants. It will not matter how many products we, as the regulator, bring to the market if participants do not stand up and implement them. We need participants to play the roles of sponsors, originators, market makers, and arrangers.
Mmegi: What products and initiatives are you hoping to see developed? Mmolai: The wish list is ambitious. It includes Sustainability Bonds, Municipal Bonds, quotation on the Serala OTC Board, the origination of Exchange Traded Funds, stabilising the Botswana Mercantile Exchange, a BSE Mobile Trading App, and establishing the Motheo National SME Fund of Funds.
Mmegi: What legacy would you like to leave through your work at the BSE? Mmolai: The Tshipidi Mentorship Programme showed us that what we really need to do as a country is pay attention to our SMEs. We should not only provide them with platforms for raising capital, but also give them serious business facilitation systems that ensure they become sustainable and investable businesses, rather than just tenderpreneurs. I hope that all the initiatives we are working on will stabilise within five years and that our quoted and listed companies will have a deep pool of capital, from ideation all the way through to the growth stages of their life cycle.
Mmegi: Ultimately, how will you know that your work has achieved its purpose? Mmolai: When I see the BSE and Botswana in general being the capital-raising hub of Africa, then our work will be fulfilled.