30 Oct 2017

Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC) has launched a one stop service centre in collaboration with some government ministries and agencies.

Giving a keynote address at the ceremony in Gaborone recently, the Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Mr Vincent Seretse said the opening of the Botswana One Stop Service Centre (BOSSC) marked a significant milestone in the quest to improve the business enabling environment.

Mr Seretse said the main objective of BOSSC was to provide an investment facilitation mechanism where relevant government agencies were brought to a single cohesive structure that coordinated and streamlined processess to provide prompt, efficient and transparent services to investors.

“BOSSC will facilitate investors in acquiring all the necessary government authorisations from a single locality by ensuring that investors are not thrown from pillar to post in search for services,” he said.

He said the centre would also shorten and simplify administrative procedures and guidelines for the issuance of business approvals, permits and licenses, thereby removing bottlenecks faced by investors in establishing and running businesses in Botswana.

The minister said the government was determined to improve the business environment by reducing the cost and improving the ease of doing business.

He said the government was fully aware of the need to maintain or improve the ease of doing business in order to have a sustainable and competitive economy.

“The introduction of BOSSC comes at a critical time when Botswana is faced with intense competition for the attraction of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and other forms of investment. I hope the centre will bring significant improvements in the turnaround times for acquisition of government authorisations,” he said.  

He noted that the success of BOSSC was dependent on the efficiency and effectiveness of stakeholders.  

Minister Seretse appealed to all stakeholders and all government ministries and departments to continually improve their services and turnaround times for assisting investors.

“It is my firm believe that we cannot expect the required levels of sustained economic growth and employment and bring about prosperity for our people without the continuous improvement to the quality of our service delivery,” he said.  

Minister Seretse stated that the growth of the economy would benefit from improved productivity, investor focused quality services and products that met international standards.

He commended the BOSSC task team under the stewardship of Ms Linah Mohohlo, the coordinator of the Selebi Phikwe Economic Revitalisation Programme (SPERP) and Mr Uttum Corea, the director-general of the NSO for their hard work in ensuring that BOSSC became a reality.

For his part, BITC assistant chief executive, Mr Meshack Tshekedi said the BOSSC management team woud endeavour to provide world class service at all times and create an enabling environment for clients.  

Mr Tshekedi said BOSSC should pave way for greater cooperation, adding that support from stakeholders was humbling and a testament to the intrinsic ability to work as one government.

“Our parent ministry has provided unwavering support and provided the necessary leadership and guidance in ensuring that the one stop service centre is established,” he said. 

He added that they would continue to engage stakeholders in the journey towards a Botswana that would compete among the best in growing and diversifying the economy.

“The success of BOSSC will not only result in improved service delivery, but will inevitably extend to improved Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows as potential investors view Botswana favourably,” he said.

BOSSC was launched under the theme: Botswana-Forging ahead in Improving ease of Doing Business. ENDS