24 Aug 2026

Botswana must streamline existing policies, expand early-stage start-up support and forge stronger public-private funding networks to turn local research into market-ready industries.

That emanated from a recent University of Botswana business forum which focused on how economic resilience can be built by combining innovation, intellectual property (IP) and entrepreneurship to create new and high-value industries, protect local assets from global shocks and empower small businesses to adapt quickly during uncertain downturns.

Speaking at the forum, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Trade and Entrepreneurship, Mr Joel Ramaphoi, said breaking barriers of entry to a thriving economy required a mindset shift towards developing an integrated value chain framework.

“We do not need to formulate new policies but reinforce existing ones to break ambiguity and complexity in a coordinated effort to synergise the Research and Development (R&D) ecosystem focusing on innovation, intellectual property and entrepreneurship,” Mr Ramaphoi said.

He emphasised how sector players can stimulate innovation through R&D investments and funding new technologies through public and private partnerships. 

“Innovation creates unique value while intellectual property protects that value and entrepreneurship brings those values to the market through products and services,” he noted.

He added that IP was vital for helping entrepreneurs to secure patents and trademarks, protecting their rights while assuring investors that local inventions were safe and valuable.

To further encourage entrepreneurship, he reiterated the need to remove red tape in easing new business setups, offer tax breaks for new ventures as well as connect founders with mentors and capital funding networks.

For her part, Angel Network Botswana managing director, Ms Mythri Sambasivan-George, underscored the essential role of such investment channel, saying “Strong funding networks help to build high-performing economies by creating jobs, driving new technology and turning fresh ideas into successful companies as they connect new businesses with funding, markets and mentorship,” she said.

She thus called on government to create an enabling environment for funding networks, given the value they injected into the economy through early capital, mentorship, networking and reduced business risk. 

“Government can capitalise on R&D to create stable regulatory frameworks, public-private partnerships and offer financial incentives such as tax breaks, low-interest loans or guarantees for key economic sectors,” she added.

On one hand, a representative from the Finnish Institute of Public Administration, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Mr Taavi Erkkola said every nation reached a pivoting point. 

He urged Botswana to adopt Finland’s model of commercialidation by expanding the scope of institutions like the Innovation Hub to support early-stage start-ups, active market-oriented scaling,and public sector adoption of local technologies.

Mr Erkkola further highlighted that Botswana needed to move beyond simple funding, pointing to Finland’s model of using targeted public co-funding incentives and grants to attract key sectors such as agriculture, tech companies and private mining, into co-investing in start-ups.

Meanwhile, participants agreed that transforming promises from high-level policy into measurable results was crucial, arguing that public speaking alone cannot deliver concrete public value.

Speakers also emphasised that building lasting strength required an economy to integrate innovation, IP and entrepreneurship into a single growth instrument to support new ideas, empower founders, protect ownership and connect networks to create a system that thrived through change.

The engagement was sponsored by Falling Walls Lab Gaborone, an international pitch competition and networking forum for breakthrough ideas. 

Held under the theme: Breaking the Walls between Research and Market, the event brought together government, industry, academia and innovation partners to chart practical steps for moving Botswana’s research into active markets for national impact. ENDS