Provides information on any manufacturing sectors or services where only citizens or a sub-set of the population in that country are allowed to own or sell.
Last Published: 7/22/2019

Limitations and local preferences arise from numerous sources.  Botswana’s 2003 Trade Act reserves licenses for 35 sectors for Botswana citizens only.  The Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI) has historically granted exceptions for large foreign-owned chain stores, but now requires applicant companies to negotiate a localization agreement as a requirement for approvals.  The 35 restricted sectors include butcheries, gas stations, liquor stores, general trading establishments, supermarkets (excluding chain stores), auctioneers, cleaning services, curio shops, funeral homes, laundromats, hairdressers, boutiques, fresh produce vendors, bars (other than those related to hotels), some government construction projects under a certain dollar amount, maintenance of roads and railway tracks, certain types of manufacturing activities including the production of furniture for schools, welding, and bricklaying.  The law allows foreigners to participate in these sectors as minority joint venture partners in medium sized businesses.  Foreigners can hold the majority share if they obtain written approval from the trade minister.

In 2015 MITI introduced a program to give locally-based small companies a 15% preferential price margin in GOB procurement, with mid-sized companies receiving a 10% margin, and large companies 5%.  The directive applies to 27 categories of goods and services ranging from textiles, chemicals, and food, in addition to a broad range of consultancy services.  At the GOB’s urging, some private sector companies practice local preferences.  For example, in 2014 the GOB and the Chamber of Mines created a committee to oversee the purchase of mining supplies with a 10% preference towards those produced locally.  Projects that are labeled under the “Economic Stimulus Program” may be subject to additional localization requirements.

Procurement practices in Botswana favor companies with operations in Botswana’s market.  GOB procurement tenders are at times designed based on the goods and services available in the market, which disadvantages competitors that are not located in Botswana.  High-value tenders are also frequently broken up into smaller tenders, rendering it cost prohibitive at times for companies based outside of the country to compete.  Common usage of hard copy tender announcements and short deadlines for bid submissions also present advantages to locally-based companies.

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