04 Jul 2016

With Botswana poised to celebrated its golden jubilee, 50 years of Economics and Business unveiled both its symposium and publication to the market and hosting key stakeholders that shared insights into what Botswana should celebrate with regard to economics and business.

The 50 years of Economics and Business is an initiative by young Batswana who aim to document, publicise and influence policy around the Botswana economy and business arena.

Mr Archie Thembe, one of the young men involved with the project said the country has grown tremendously and both the publication and symposium seek to showcase Botswana’s growth and economic development since 1966.

He said the publication narrates a story to Batswana and the rest of the world about the country’s journey and growth.

“It is a collection of lessons, development and industrial evolutions that the country has undergone in the past half century,” he said, adding that they would hold the symposium in December with reputable organisations like Moody’s attending.

One of the stakeholders that shared insight was chief  executive officer of Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE), Mr Thapelo Tsheole who indicated that the BSE started operations in 1989 when it was known as the Botswana Share Market (BSM) with only five companies among them being Engen, Sechaba and Barclays.

“So far, BSE has 34 companies across nine sectors, 40 bonds fixed income investment with six belonging to government,” he said, adding that government bonds contribute around P6.2 billion and the rest of the companies P3.8 billion.

Mr Tsheole further said on a yearly basis BSE roughly trades around P3 billion and last year foreign companies contributed P1.3 billion.

“This year things are looking up because daily we roughly trade around P30.7 million,” he said, further indicating that 24 of domestic companies trading with BSE, 12 of them have expanded to the rest of Africa.

He said they encourage domestic companies to have their headquarters here and spread internationally which in turn helps the country’s financial services market and also helps with employment. For his part, President of Botswana Exporters and Manufacturing Association (BEMA), Mr Nkosi Mwaba said the organisation was established in 1995 with only 10 companies in their books. ENDS