Trade Minister Tiroeaone Ntsima says Botswana’s economic institutions must stop working in silos and operate as one delivery system, with duplication placed under direct scrutiny.
GAZETTE REPORTER
Botswana’s Ministry of Trade and Entrepreneurship is moving to confront duplication among its state-owned enterprises and institutions, with Minister Tiroeaone Ntsima calling for a more integrated approach to economic delivery. Addressing the first meeting of chief executive officers of MTE state-owned enterprises on Monday, Ntsima said the gathering should mark “the beginning of a different way of working” rather than become another engagement between the Ministry and its institutions.
The Ministry’s wider family includes Botswana Development Corporation, Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency, Local Enterprise Authority, Botswana Investment and Trade Centre, Botswana Bureau of Standards, Botswana Trade Commission, Competition and Consumer Authority, Competition and Consumer Tribunal, Special Economic Zones Authority, and Companies and Intellectual Property Authority, among others. Ntsima questioned whether Botswana was receiving the full economic value from these institutions collectively and said that, although many were working hard, they had for too long operated separately.
Duplication Scrutiny
Ntsima said Government needed to have an “uncomfortable but necessary conversation” about duplication, questioning why two institutions should provide almost exactly the same service. He pointed to the possibility of several agencies maintaining separate business advisory programmes, market-access initiatives, research departments, regional offices and databases serving the same enterprises.
The Minister stressed that this did not mean institutions should immediately be merged or that their statutory independence should be undermined. Instead, he called for greater discipline over institutional roles, with LEA serving as a centre of excellence for enterprise development, CEDA concentrating on financing sustainable citizen businesses, and BDC focusing on major transformational investment and building industries.
Under the proposed division of roles, BITC would serve as the investor and export-market engine, BOBS as an instrument of industrialisation, and BOTC would turn trade data into industrial intelligence. CCA would examine market structures that could prevent new enterprises from entering and competing, CCT would remain independent, and SEZA would focus on place-based industrialisation rather than replicating national agency functions.
One Machinery
Ntsima proposed an “MTE Enterprise Growth Pipeline” through which entrepreneurs would move from formalisation and development to financing, production, standards compliance, domestic markets, exports and ultimately scaling. The aim, he said, was for institutions to share information and avoid forcing businesses to repeatedly start from zero.
“If LEA has prepared a company and declared it investment-ready, CEDA should not treat that entrepreneur as a stranger,” Ntsima said. “One enterprise, One file, One journey.” He also proposed shared MTE Enterprise Centres where businesses could access development assistance, finance information, standards advice, export information, company registration assistance and investment facilitation.
Agencies should also explore sharing corporate services such as procurement, training, research subscriptions, facilities, fleet, ICT infrastructure, legal panels and conference facilities, the Minister said. The proposals are intended to reduce duplication while allowing each institution to retain a clear and accountable role.
Measuring Outcomes
Ntsima said institutional performance should increasingly be judged by shared economic outcomes rather than activity alone, including new factories, private investment realised, non-diamond exports, new exporters, jobs created, scaled citizen-owned companies, imports replaced and strategic value chains developed. He proposed formalising the approach through an MTE SOE Integration and Economic Delivery Framework 2026-2029.
By the end of 2026, the Ministry is expected to map mandates, programmes, facilities and databases, identify duplication, select priority value chains, establish joint projects and create a shared dashboard. “In 2027, we connect the system,” Ntsima said, with consolidation and scaling planned for 2028 and an assessment of reforms in 2029, adding: “We are one economic machinery.”