Promotion without promoters: When bureaucracy undermines enterprise
KWAME SAMUEL RUBADIRI | Monday November 9, 2026 11:22
Last week I attended Business Botswana’s National Conference in Francistown, which ran from October 18 to 21.
After listening to several speakers on the panel and conversing with a few businessmen of rank during the breaks, I noticed a worrisome pattern. The complaints were largely similar.
How can a government that consistently encourages entrepreneurship and job creation systematically frustrate those ambitions?
Charles Siwawa, CEO of Botswana Chamber of Mines, made an alarming case concerning housing expansion in Sowa, a mining town in the North-East District.
According to him, some workers have to drive up to 100km to get to work each day, highlighting the need for additional housing. The local council reportedly agreed to his proposal.
However, difficulties arose when the matter reached the land board in Gaborone. Mr Siwawa indicated that the project had been stalled for over a year, thus delaying the development of the town.
Siwawa was not alone. Many business leaders complained about the cumbersome approval processes at various stages of their operations, from obtaining permits to securing licenses.
What was particularly disconcerting was that these challenges were not new. They have persisted for years.
Some twenty years ago, an aspiring Motswana, Mr Mike Proctor, identified a gap in the market for the manufacturing of condoms. As he recounted his experience, he explained that there was no indigenous-owned condom manufacturer on the continent, with almost all condoms being imported from Asia. He established a small plant in the early 2000s but encountered serious bureaucratic challenges.
Eventually, he exited Botswana and moved his operation to South Africa, which would become Gemilatex, one of Africa’s biggest condom companies.
Proctor wanted to create jobs for Batswana yet found himself precluded by administrators under the Ministry of Trade and Industry. The cost was real: Botswana lost an opportunity to develop a local manufacturing industry and create employment.
These men weren’t speaking into a silo. Seated in the front row of the conference hall were people of power and authority, such as the Minister of Trade and Industry and a senior official from the Presidential Envoy.
They made it clear that they were there to listen and work with business leaders. I genuinely believe that many of these ministers desire the welfare of our country.
That’s what makes this situation so troubling. It suggests a leadership deficiency in guiding officials in implementing public policy.
On the surface, public-sector and private-sector actors are working together towards the common goal of national development.
Government promotes entrepreneurship, job creation and investment; in return, businesses expect an enabling environment in which they can operate with a regulatory framework. Yet this partnership seems to have broken down at the point of implementation.
The incentives are misaligned.
From the accounts of business leaders like Mr Siwawa and Mr Proctor, it appears that the system may reward caution, incentivising refusals over approvals.
This is not a matter of ill will. Perhaps officials are only following the established handbook to a fault, protecting themselves at the expense of the mandate the very same government seeks to promote.
The real tragedy is economic cost of opportunities left on the table when prospective investors take their money elsewhere.
We can’t afford to promote public-private partnerships without ensuring that officials at every level are committed to facilitating the aspirations of business owners.
From approvals to licensing, public officials should be encouraged to work with stakeholders, not against them. This does not mean abandoning protocol. Rather we should seek to empower and upskill these officials to improve productivity, streamline processes and avoid unnecessary delays.
As Arun Iyer, co-founder and CEO of Alpha Direct Insurance, recalled in his interview with Oabona Kgengwenyana on the Growth Well Podcast, the official who authorised the permit for his co-founder indirectly facilitated the creation of 3,800 jobs.
Consider what is at stake. A single administrative decision can contribute to the creation of thousands of jobs. Conversely, a delayed or obstructed decision can prevent an investment from materialising, depriving a community of much needed development and the economy of equally needed activity.
Public officials need to look beyond the stamp to the possible outcome. Their job shouldn’t be limited to gatekeeping the ambitions of Batswana and protecting the status quo.
They are partners in the development of Botswana. Those licences and approvals are not mere formalities; they are co-signatures towards a prosperous future.