05 Nov 2020

Chief Executive Officer of Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) Mr Thapelo Tsheole says Botswana Telecommunications Corporations Limited (BTCL) is one of the many success stories that has been witnessed in recent years at the BSE.

Speaking at the BTCL 40^th Anniversary Opening Bell Ceremony in Gaborone this week, he said  BTCL was the first state owned entity to privatise and list on the national stock exchange and its listing had induced conversation with government to pave way for other state owned entities to utilise the BSE as a capital raising platform and promote citizen economic empowerment by listing on the local bourse.

Mr Tsheole said BTCL’s listing had been recognised as one of the largest and most historic Initial Public Offering (IPOs) in the country, stating that due to investor appetite, they welcomed over 40 000 new investors in the market.

He said this figure though, did not tell the whole story as their IPO was oversubscribed by 1.68 times, the public demanded 776 333 400 shares well in the excess of the 462 000 00 shares available something, which he said was incredible achievement by any BSE listed entity to date.

Mr Tsheole said the BSE performed a crucial function of facilitating the formation, allocation and mobility of capital. 

As with many stock exchanges around the world, the BSE is an organised, formal, regulated marketplace where instruments are listed and traded on a continuing basis, hence since inception, the BSE has been an instrumental player in the growth of Botswana’s economy.

Mr Tsheole said to date they play host to the most preeminent companies doing business in Botswana, Africa and the world, and these companies represent a spectrum of industries such as commence, agriculture, banking, financial services, energy, mining and telecommunications among others.

He said from the 32 companies listed on the BSE, eleven of these companies have regional and international presence, contributing around 40 per cent to the national GDP, stating that the Botswana market has become a viable and attractive destination for international and regional companies looking to expand and penetrate new markets.

“Our main goal is to contribute significantly to Botswana’s economy by promoting a robust private sector by acting as a catalyst for companies to access equity or debt-finance that will ultimately lead to the growth of these enterprises which in the long run would create employment, propel technological innovation, stimulate further infrastructure development and aid in attracting more Foreign Direct Investment (FID) amongst many benefits,” he said.

For her part the BTCL board chairperson, Ms Lorato Boakgomo-Ntakhwana said their growth and sustainability as a company was driven by their desire to see every Motswana from the vast geographic land benefit from use of their services to enable their socio-economic growth.

Ms Boakgomo-Ntakhwana said their listing strengthened their resolve to improve their services to the customers and deliver shareholder value, adding that so far, they had managed to deliver the highest yield on the local exchange thereby creating wealth to their shareholders.

“As we turn 40 years this year, we proudly proclaim to owning a network of the future which envelopes every Motswana in all corners of this vast republic, and our infrastructure has demonstrated that digital inclusion is a path to growth and economic viability,’’ she said.

She said access to ICT and data was an economic activity and a right for all communities as a means to communicate to doing business and to growing this country, stating that all their shareholders across the country could engage with them on different platforms whenever and no matter where they are.

The board chairperson said customers had access to computer, storage and software defined network resources on demand through the company’s Cloud Management Platform and said this had been enhanced by the recent partnership with Microsoft for cloud services and BTC’s dynamic infrastructure was recently put to test when the company successfully held its first ever virtual Annual General Meeting (AGM) last month.

“We leveraged our vast reliable network to seamlessly deliver our first ever virtual AGM ensuring that the two-hour long meeting was concluded without any glitches and stakeholders experienced superior network experience and all our stakeholders participating in the meeting were able to simultaneously hear each other throughout the meeting and were able to cast their votes on matters to be voted for,” said Mr Boakgomo-Ntakhwana. 

Opening Bell serves as a platform to signify the start of trading. It also avails opportunity for the exchange or listed entities to make news announcements or celebrate corporate milestone. 

ends