BITC facilitated a business session between the visiting Estonia business delegation in the ICT sector and their Botswana counterparts in line with the mutual commitments between the governments of Botswana and Estonia towards cooperation in digitalization, innovation, trade and investment, education, and ICT. The business session held on 6th March was graced with presentations by keynote speakers from various supporting institutions and key stakeholders in the Financial and Business Services sector as well as delivery of high-level presentations by the visiting ICT Companies from Estonia.
The BITC COO, Mr Anthony Sefako presented on the ease of Doing Business in Botswana to the delegates from Estonia and assured them that Botswana is indeed an investment destination of choice with our stable economy, sound fiscal policies, investment incentives and enabling environment for FDI attraction. The Botswana Fintech presented on the financial and tech landscape in Botswana, and this was delivered by Ms. Ruth Baitshepi, Coordinator of Digitalization and Innovation hub at the Bank of Botswana. She informed the delegates of a recent study conducted by the Central Bank on the fintech sector whose key findings highlighted investment opportunities in the nascent fintech sector and encouraged the visiting delegation to consider harnessing such opportunities.
The Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) Chief Executive Officer Mr Thapelo Tsheole highlighted key updates and significant milestones in the Botswana stock market. He made a clarion call on the visiting delegation and the members of the private sector to consider listing their companies with the BSE to raise capital for their investments and leverage on the recently increased availability of investment funds from the local pension funds.
To usher in the various presentations by the visiting ICT Companies from Estonia was a very brief presentation by Estonia’s Head of Africa-Estonian Centre for International Development (ESTDEV) Ms Katrin Winter. She highlighted the focused interest in collaborating with Botswana to boost the digital development of e-solutions as well as create a data-driven business environment as Botswana aspires to become a knowledge-driven economy.
Presentations from the three (3) visiting top ICT companies from Estonia namely Admiral, Nortal and Digital Nation were quite encouraging as they expressed their strong will to collaborate with the Government of Botswana and form solid joint venture partnerships with local companies to deliver top-notch digitalization and fintech solutions services. In closing the presentations by the Estonia delegation, Ambassador at Large for Africa, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Estonia His Excellency Mr Daniel Erik Schaer buttressed the need for both countries to collaborate and co-create to deliver end-to-end digitalization and the broader ICT solutions and services.
