18 Aug 2026

The fifth annual Francistown Business Expo will take place on 21 August 21 to 22 2026 at Cresta Marang Gardens under the theme: Transforming Today, Empowering Tomorrow: Building a High-Income Botswana Together. 

Speaking at a press conference in Francistown on August 13, LBN Consulting chief executive officer and the expo’s founder, Mr Lawrence Ntsimanyana said the expo was started with a simple idea that Francistown deserved a strong, credible and sustainable business platform of its own. 

Five years later, that platform has grown into a space where SMMEs meet new customers, corporates engage entrepreneurs, and government, the private sector and business owners have meaningful conversations. 

Mr Ntsimanyana said last year’s expo attracted 42 exhibitors and approximately 1 200 visitors.

The 2026 edition, he said, was a deliberate response to Botswana’s current economic status, adding that the national conversation was now about economic diversification, jobs, entrepreneurship, investment, industrialisation and building a private sector capable of driving growth. “The Expo therefore seeks to move from conversation to action by bringing together government, businesses, investors, entrepreneurs, young people and development partners,” he said.

He linked this year’s expo directly to government’s national transformation agenda under President Advocate Duma Gideon Boko. 

“The administration’s True North is a high-income Botswana that is digitally enabled, export-driven and economically diversified, with citizens employed, empowered and fulfilled,” said Mr Ntsimanyana.

He said that vision was anchored in National Development Plan 12 and the Botswana Economic Transformation Programme (BETP).  According to him, government could create policies and programmes, but businesses must invest, entrepreneurs must build, industries must produce, and the private sector must create sustainable jobs. 

He explained that the BETP’s priority areas were agriculture, manufacturing, infrastructure, financial services, digitalisation, tourism, energy, water, mining, education, healthcare and social protection, all of which he said would be represented at the expo through its conference, exhibition and side events. 

“President Boko has emphasised the need to move Botswana beyond excessive dependence on diamonds and towards a more diversified, productive and private sector-led economy and that transformation cannot happen only in Gaborone,” Mr Ntsimanyana added.

For him, the Francistown Business Expo wsa no longer simply an event, but Francistown’s contribution to the national economic transformation agenda.

He told journalists that the 2026 programme would introduce two major additions. 

On its first day, the expo will host a Hybrid Business Conference featuring policymakers, CEOs, investors, entrepreneurs and development partners. Sessions will cover investment, entrepreneurship, mining, innovation, leadership, regional trade, competitive African cities, branding and economic transformation. 

The goal, Mr Ntsimanyana said, was for delegates to leave with knowledge, relationships, contacts and opportunities.

On August 22, the expo will launch a Ministerial Youth Entrepreneurship Town Hall. 

The free platform will be jointly led by Minister of Trade and Entrepreneurship, Mr Tiroeaone Ntsima and Minister of Environment and Tourism, Mr Wynter Mmolotsi. 

He explained that discussions would focus on funding, access to markets, government programmes, tourism opportunities, entrepreneurship policy, innovation and job creation.

At the core of the expo remains the Business Exhibition. Corporates, SMMEs, NGOs, startups, and businesses from agriculture, tourism, technology, manufacturing, creative industries, food processing and environmental sectors are expected to exhibit.

Mr Ntsimanyana noted that what many small businesses needed was not another workshop, but a customer, a market, visibility and the right connection.

The 2026 Expo is supported by Gambling Authority, Diagnofirm, BTC and Access Bank Botswana. 

The Gambling Authority CEO, Mr Moruntshi Kemorwale, will also participate in business conversations. Strategic partners include Quick Click Consulting and other collaborators who have contributed expertise, networks and resources.

Mr Ntsimanyana said looking beyond 2026, the organisers aimed to grow the Francistown Business Expo into a recognised regional business and investment platform connecting Botswana with Zimbabwe, South Africa, Zambia, Namibia, Eswatini and the wider African continent.

Impact will be measured not only by visitor numbers, but by deals, investments, partnerships and contracts secured.

Mr Ntsimanyana called on the business community to participate, on entrepreneurs to showcase, on corporates to identify businesses to procure from, on investors to discover opportunities, and on young entrepreneurs to use the Town Hall to make their voices heard.

He also urged residents of Francistown and northern Botswana to attend, walk through the stalls, ask questions, buy products and build partnerships. ENDS