26 Sep 2019

German-Africa Business Association is open to the prospects of increasing its footprint in Botswana.

Welcoming the Botswana delegation to Hamburg, Germany on September 25, the association’s  manager Mr Michael Monnerjahn said they were currently doing business with only seven African countries and were therefore keen to facilitate expansion into the continent.

Though he said Africa presented a limited market for German companies, he promised to encourage its 500-strong membership to expand operations into Botswana.

Mr Monnerjahn said currently only 850 German businesses were operating in Africa, most of them in South Africa.

A Ministry for International Cooperation and Food Security representative, Dr Helen Laqua said the ministry had supported projects in Africa and would therefore be pleased to extend assistance to Botswana.

To date, she said, the ministry had funded projects in several African countries among them Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa and Uganda.

Dr Laqua said while the ministry’s focus was funding research projects, it had in the past funded projects in other fields and would continue to do so based on the strength of applications for funding.

One other area the ministry had bias towards, she said, was that of leadership training.

She said training targeted mostly African youth, who formed the majority of the continent’s population.

Responding to a question from Botswana Telecommunications Corporation’s Mr Nelson Disang on whether the ministry funded telecommunications technologies projects, Dr Laqua said it was interested in funding digitalisation projects, especially since connectivity was proving to be crucial to the growth of the global economy.

To a question from Professor Shalaulani Nsoso of the Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (BUAN) on the possibility of collaboration with African universities, she said the ministry had existing partnerships with some African universities among them Kenya’s Kenyatta University and Mzuzu University of Malawi.

Still from BUAN, Prof Khumoetsile Mmolawa sought clarity on whether the ministry’s support was restricted to research on nutrition and food security.

 Dr Laqua reiterated that while funding was biased towards food and nutrition, it also funded projects in other fields such as diversified agriculture.

The Botswana team, comprising industry leaders in different key sectors, is in Germany on a mission to woo investors to the country. Ends