25 Aug 2025

Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) will invest P400 million into the country’s economic diversification and transformative initiatives, BDC caretaker managing director, Mr Oteng Keabetswe has said.

This follows BDC’s announcement to exit its investment from Rhodes Food Group, thus unlocking P400 million in capital to reinvest into Botswana’s economic transformation drive.

Speaking at the corporation’s high level strategic briefing on Friday, Mr Keabetswe said that the P400 million was a return on investment made in 2021 adding that the repositioning reaffirmed BDC’s founding spirit on transforming the country’s economy with purpose. 

“BDC took the decision to invest in Rhodes in March 2021. With the investment having met its intended objectives, we are now divesting and repatriating the capital to channel it towards high-impact projects within Botswana,” Mr Keabetswe said.

He stated that BDC was reconfiguring its trajectory towards a renewable corporate direction aligned with Botswana Economic Transformation Plan. 

Mr Keabetswe said the move was part of BDC’s broader capital recycling strategy, aimed at optimising the corporation’s portfolio and focusing on ventures that drove inclusive and sustainable economic growth within the country. 

Adding that BDC had crafted the new trajectory around the United Nations Sustainable Development goals among them, zero hunger, good health and wellbeing as well as decent economic growth.

Mr Keabetswe said BDC would strive to assist in the provision of proper healthcare and decent work opportunities. 

“We are also launching an asset recycling strategy as local liquidity pressures require a different approach,” he said. 

The capital recycling strategy, he said was targeting to bring back return on investment of over P1.5 billion over the next 12 months.

Additionally, he said BDC was also embarking on an off balance sheet financing, which would allow financing using structures and transactions that were not recorded as assets or liabilities on a company’s balance sheet, which could lower reported debt levels and improve financial ratios. 

He stated that BDC would also prioritise sectors that would aid the country’s economic development from agribusiness, financial services, important substitution and technology. These sectors, he said were priority areas over short to medium term as the cooperation embarked on a bold and intentional investment strategy aimed at improving nation’s livelihoods. 

He however admitted that BDC’s balance sheet was nonetheless under pressure, adding that to remedy the balance BDC would pay out most of its debt and invest on sustainable high impact sectors. ENDS