14 Aug 2019

This year’s edition of the Botswana Global expo attracted around 241 exhibitors from 13 countries including Botswana, marking a great achievement for Botswana Investment Trade Centre (BITC).

In line with the mandate of the BITC and the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry, the achievement bolsters the objective of building momentum towards the promotion of investment and sustainable industries which  was necessary to diversify and link the Botswana economy to the rest of the world.

According to the Director of Corporate Communications at BITC, Ms Kutlo Moagi, 96 international exhibitors from sub-Saharan Africa, Europe and the Middle East participated at the expo while 145 were local exhibitors.

She added that they also hosted 15 international speakers who participated at the investment conference workshops and eight international media houses as partners to disseminate information on the expo.

The highlights of the Expo according to Ms Moagi, were discussions around making strategic trade-offs for diversification and economic growth, trade capacity building and helping Botswana to move up the value chain which included plenary discussions from political and business luminaries such as Former President Dr Festus Mogae and former cabinet minister, Mr David Magang.

There were also discussions on how the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) could benefit small, undiversified economies such as Botswana.

“These discussions included representatives from USAID, AU Commission, Afrexim Bank, Botswana Exporters Manufacturers Association and Business Botswana.

The Global expo acts as a conduit to enable entrepreneurs to benefit from business to business (B2B) platforms in order to cultivate sustainable business relationships for all participants, she noted.

“The B2B business matchmaking program is a virtual platform created by BITC to give both exhibitors and visitors attending the expo the opportunity to actively promote their businesses,” she said.

Ms Moagi added that more local businesses needed to participate in the expo in order to benefit from the exposure and opportunities that the expo had to offer.

She said through their export development program, local manufacturers could be assisted with market entry strategies informed by market studies in order to benefit from more liquid markets in the outside arena.

Ms Moagi said the Global expo would continue to grow with the introduction of more initiatives adding that this year the BITC introduced the Global Expo hackathon in addition to the investment battlefield from last year.

The hackathon was a 48-hour non-stop event in which a team of aspiring tech entrepreneurs battled to come up with a solution to an identified social problem.

Ms Moagi says the Hackathon sought to find a solution to systemic and routine monitoring of public transport in order to create convenience for locals and reduce road dangers.  

This year’s theme for the expo focused on harnessing the power of emerging markets for economic growth, calling for acceleration of intra-African trade to facilitate growth of entrepreneurs especially in the ICT space. ENDS