13 Aug 2014

Botswana has embarked on a different platform in an endeavour to attract foreign direct investment and diversify the economy.

Through partnership between Simon and Lawrence, Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC) and BOFINET, the country is now marketed through CNBC, a pan African business channel broadcasting to 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Dubbed ‘Doing Business in Africa,’ the programme airs on Tuesdays on CNBC Africa, channel 410 on Dstv at 6 p.m and repeats on Wednesdays at 9 p.m.

Speaking at the launch of the programme on Tuesday, August 12 the BITC chief executive officer Mr Letsebe Sejoe said the programme would give Botswana an economic leverage to attract investors and diversify the economy. He said Botswana had for a number of years been the best kept secret but “now we got to up the game and be aggressive.”

Mr Sejoe said they were still looking for more partners as their intention was to increase episodes from 26 to 52, and also looking into other areas such as advertising the country on BBC news channel.

The programme, he said, aimed at telling a Botswana story to business people across Africa, adding the country had a good story to tell. The country is competitive, has been rated the Most Profitable Country, second to Hong Kong hence setting itself apart from other African countries.

Mr Sejoe said Botswana is also amongst world leaders in conservation and also a leader in diamond beneficiation.

The programme will address different sectors of the economy such as mining, real estate, ICT and agriculture.  The first episode featured Mr Sejoe and the Minister of Trade and Industry Ms Dorcas Makgato-Malesu. They talked about building an enabling environment for business and the , Economic Diversification Drive (EDD) , among other things. ENDS