Biggest obstacle to creating jobs is bureaucracy, not attracting ‘ditsala tsa bahumi’

I definitely commend the efforts of all the respective stakeholders doing that work but sometimes it feels like we are missing what the actual problem is in creating jobs and investment in Botswana. It is not finding people and businesses interested in setting up in Botswana. Big money has always been interested in us and rightfully so. We have built the country’s brand and goodwill on being well managed and stable and many businesses including South African ones would love to come here.

Our biggest challenge has always been our systems of capitalising on the interest. Melao ya rona e tobekane, conflicts and fight each other. The interest is there but being able to convert that interest into actual business is where the problem is. Our business ecosystem is terrible and this has always been reflected by our poor results in the “Ease of Doing Business” rankings.