19 Feb 2014

Services provided in the business facilitation services centre will be delivered to deserving and qualifying investors who meet the Botswana Investment Trade Centre (BITC) eligibility criteria while other business people will follow the normal and usual route.

Speaking at the launch of the BITC business facilitation services centre, Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Dorcas Makgato-Malesu said the main objective of the centre, a one-stop shop, was to assist and facilitate investors in acquiring all the necessary government authorisations.

“The centre will ensure that investors are assisted in an efficient and timely manner,” she said. She said the launch marked a significant milestone in Botswana’s quest to improve an enabling environment for investment in Botswana.

“Furthermore, the centre is aimed at ensuring that investors do not move from one office to the other in search of services required to set-up a business,” said Ms Makgato-Malesu.

She said the centre facilitates applications for investors, in among others company and business registration, trade and business license applications, entry visas, work and residence permits, work permit exemptions, connection of utilities, income and VAT registration and access to industrial and commercial land allocation.

The minister further said the introduction of the business facilitation services centre comes at a critical time when Botswana is faced with an intense competition for investment. “It is my expectation that the centre will bring improvements in the time it takes to start a business in Botswana,” she said.

It has been reported in the 2014 World Bank Ease of Doing Business report that Botswana is ranked 96 out of 189 countries in terms of starting a business.

The World Bank estimates that it takes sixty days to register and license a business in Botswana as compared to only two days in Rwanda.

Ms Makgato-Malesu said the role of government in designing and implementing effective policies and industrial development strategies will be strengthened if government continues to engage the private sector at both policy development and operational levels.

“The launch of this centre is reaffirmation of a closer working relationship and collaboration between the private sector and government,” she said.

She said the efficiency and success of the centre is dependent on the efficiency and effectiveness of other stakeholders.

“I implore all stakeholders to continually improve their services and turnaround times for assisting investors,” said the minister.

She indicated that she would like to dispel the myth that government is anti-investment.

“Government is fully committed to providing a conducive business environment through which the private sector is accorded the necessary support to enable it to flourish,” she said.

She said Botswana needs to redouble her efforts towards diversifying and transforming the content and structure of her economy. “We particularly need to increase our support to the productive or economic sectors of our economy in order to boost their industrial base, capacity, output and competitiveness,” she said.

Ms Makgato-Malesu said the growth of Botswana’s economy can benefit immensely from improved productivity, investor focused quality services and products that meet international standards.

“Creating a customer-centric mindset at all levels of the economy would boost productivity and improve Botswana’s competitiveness globally and investors nowadays demand decent service from all stakeholders,” she concluded. ENDS