Kutlo Motseta
21st May 2025
The government held a second public workshop themed “Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Analysis” at Maharaja Conference Centre in Gaborone, Botswana.
It brought together the public, entrepreneurs and academics to contribute to a study, which is intended to define and fix the business environment in Botswana; and also allocate and shed light on existing funds for local entrepreneurs.
The study, which will run until 2026, is a result of an agreement signed between the Botswana Government and Massachusetts Institute technology (MIT), which is a leading university in the United States of America.
“[The current ecosystem] is not working cohesively …output in ecosystem is limited. MIT and Botswana seek to correct this through this strategy …. [with a] focus on immigration driven enterprises,” said Ms. Normakhosi Mookodi, Director of Value Chain Developmentin the Ministry of Trade and Entrepreneurship.
She said, “BIH (Botswana Innovation Hub) is going to be custodians of foundry fellowship … going to open up applications to the country and the rest of the region.”
She further said that there will be two programs which will be run by the pilot program hosts – University of Botswana and Botswana International University of Science and Technology – namely the MIT Standbox and the Student Fellowship based on entrepreneurship.
The program started in 2024 and will run until 2026.
There was a healthy vigorous debate between the some BIH officers and members of the public who raised the concern that BIH has millions at its disposal, which benefited a few.
In the spirit of transparency, BIH officers complained about the quality of proposals and asked for suggestions from the public.
Speakers encouraged aspiring entrepreneurs to – in addition to BIH – try out all avenues for funding whether from existing institutions, companies private or individuals as they continue to make efforts to avail funding to the public which is said to exceed P100 million.
The workshops also provide a platform for entrepreneurs to exchange ideas about academic and professional journey in entrepreneurship. The director explained one of the benefits of her academic study group, which arranged for its members to have “20 minute [sessions] to engage with entrepreneurs [to] open the door to relations [with that entrepreneur]”
More workshops will be hosted in the coming in the coming weeks.
“We are developing something quite exciting … what’s different before today, is that we are touching every part of the ecosystem … in order to make changes [adaptions]. We want to assure you, from the government side … that we want to make innovation a priority,” said Mbakiso Morapedi, Deputy Permeant Secretary of Value Chain and Cluster.
