BITC prioritises value chains development
Botswana Investment and Trade Centre ( BITC), the country’s Investment and Trade Promotion Agency ( ITPA) is committed to playing a strategic role in assisting with value chain development as espoused by the government’s Reset Agenda, which has already been launched by President Dr. Mokgweetsi Masisi. At the height of COVID- 19, the Government launched five Priorities that once successfully implemented will lift Botswana from middle to high- income status in the future. The five Priorities are: Save Botswana’s population from COVID- 19, Align the Botswana Government Machinery to the Presidential agenda, Digitalisation, Value Chain Development, and Mindset Change.
Speaking during a recent stakeholder engagement on the organisation’s performance over the past 10 years, Chief Executive Officer of the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre ( BITC), Keletsositse Olebile, reiterated the five Priorities. “The one priority that impacts us the most is value chain development,” he said, adding that as BITC they are playing an active role to bring it to fruition.
According to the Government, value chain development will unlock opportunities for new, high- growth companies in the private sector, and youth employment among other empowerment initiatives.
The priority is also aimed at accelerating economic diversification and sustainable growth. Sectors which Government has proposed to start with under the Priority include education, tourism, food, and minerals.
Olebile added that these sectors are critical under the value chain development since they can be beneficiated and help other sectors of the economy to grow. BITC is already playing a role in the food sector. The food industry is the complex network of farmers and diverse businesses that together
supply much of the food consumed by the world population. As a matter of fact, BITC is currently in the process of assisting Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency ( CEDA) with a factory shell that will house the horticulture market centre. The Centre will allow large retailers to buy from it, unlike in the current setup where retailers can buy directly from farmers.
Under the mineral sector, which has been chosen as one of the initial sectors that value chain development should focus on, BITC has already hit the ground running to prepare the necessary ground for success.
For years, Botswana has been among the biggest diamond producers. Nonetheless, beneficiation in the sector and value chain development in this sector has been unsatisfactory. During the recent Dubai 2020 expo, BITC also played a key role in the facilitation of the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding ( MoU) between stateowned Okavango Diamond Company and Dubai Multi- Commodities Centre ( DMCC). The highly celebrated MoU will see the two government- owned entities work closely together to promote the diamond industries in Botswana and the United Arab Emirates, and most importantly support the sustainable development of the industry.
The partnership comes on the back of Dubai being announced as the largest trade hub for rough diamonds in the world. DMCC and ODC have agreed to work together to advance the diamond industry in both the UAE and Botswana. Both parties will exchange information, analytical materials, and forecasts on the prospects for the development of the global diamond market, while also supporting each other on all aspects relating to the application of the Kimberly Process ( KP).
Related to diamonds, as part of helping with the development of value chains that could drive the country’s economic growth and diversity, BITC has signed a MoU with Debswana, which focuses on how the mining company’s procurement can be localised. According to BITC, international companies which supply Debswana such as Komatsu, Barloworld, and Part Sales Botswana, are taking strategic investment positions within the country, with a view to either produce, maintain or rebuild some equipment locally.
All these developments are expected to create job opportunities in the domestic economy which the Reset Agenda- Development of Value Chains, speaks to.
BITC is also working closely with sister parastatals on how to develop and entrench local value chains in key sectors of the economy. Related to this, BITC is working closely with the Special Economic Zones Authority ( SEZA) on the establishment of the Multi- Commodities Exchange ( MCX) platform. Olebile told Botswana Guardian that they are working with SEZA to have them identify possible partners and investors to operate the MCX platform in Botswana. The MCX is an organised marketplace where buyers and sellers come together to trade.
Among other citizen empowerment attributes, the MCX will unlock opportunities for new high- growth companies and employment creation. The platform will accommodate both hard and soft commodities – where soft commodities are from the agriculture sector and hard commodities are from the mineral sector.
The MCX will remedy the informal market structures, remove barriers to integration and upgrade value chains. The platform, according to Olebile, is important in the sense that it allows for the sale of various commodities, at the same time ‘ promoting maximum value on a single commodity’. Over the years, BITC has also promoted cross- border value chain linkages. For example, it has assisted suppliers of Original Equipment Manufacturers such as Kromberg and Schubert and Delta Automotive Technologies Botswana to produce automotive components for cars in the South Africa automotive industry.
Although these parts are being made in Botswana, BITC has been instrumental in helping the respective companies to sell outside the country.