I have been daling with black businessmen in Botswana and South Africa for a few years now and there is a serious lack of confidence amongst many of SMEs owners. Secondly, they lack the will to engage themselves to find interntional partners or strategic alliances. Alot of work need to be done on this front.

I agree mr Paul there is a serious problem of confidence in botswana sir and it is killing all existing smes and potential owners who may wana venture.even me my friend.can you help me improve my confidencce

The BSE is on of those unknown or under-reported stock market in Africa, however, it has some very good blue chips available that offer very good R.O.I For those seeking to widen their portfolio investment in Africa, Botswana should be your port of call.

Small individual or institutional investors who want to learn more about investment decsions in stock/shares and corporate bonds on the BSE should look out for the next set of short course put on by the Botswana Stock Exchange

The SME sector in SADC needs a revival in SADC. After another yearly trip to South Africa, i realize how under capitalize SMEs are. And too many of them ae looking to the government to win tenders, when honestly alot of them do not have the capacity to deliver. There is also a serious narrow mindedness of businesses in Botswana and South Africa.

Globally SMEs seemingly are facing the same set of problems. Dubai in the Middle East, to Seychelles, South Africa, Botswana, New York etc they face a lack of confidence in their abilities to govern and to provide an acceptable rate of return on investments.

African SMEs seem to be at a disadvantage as they lack generally governmental support and their inbility to leverage technology to their advantage.

Firstly id like to say finding out about the website has made my day. There is a lot that is happening in our country with regards to sme develoment of late, with the intention to diversify our economy thanks to the government (though a bit late). However i wish more people had access to such forums to actively talk about any issues of interest that would add to this great initiative in order to own it and take it to another level....i.e. to even rope in people who have no idea about business. SME is amongst our biggest hopes to come out of this government reliance and engage the private sector to take this economy beyond 3rd world status. The one other issue of great concern is the amount of monitoring and evaluation that i feel should be made open to all interested parties so that we know how we are doing nationally with regards to adding towards meaningful value i.e. to gross domestic value of the economy!!

Kgotso, very good comment. How can i contact you? SMEs all over the world play a vital role in the development of the national economy. Yes, you are spot on regarding the lack of monitoring and evaluation.

It is interesting that people actually see alot of portential in starting small businesses in Botswana in the are of sports toursm. I would like to hear from you What I deas in Particular do you have in this very dicy business with a low poppulation like that of Botswana.

The size of the population is not real issue, the issue is what activities can one bring to Botswana that would pull visitors to the country. Activities that are beneficial to the SME sector in particular. If you contact me directly, we could talk. info@botswana-sme.com