Botswana Country Commercial Guide
Learn about the market conditions, opportunities, regulations, and business conditions in botswana, prepared by at U.S. Embassies worldwide by Commerce Department, State Department and other U.S. agencies’ professionals
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Market Entry Strategy
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Establishing business operations in Botswana often requires local partnerships, particularly for government tenders.  Increasingly, both government and private sector contracts favor Botswana citizen-owned or locally based companies.  Access to most government loans and grants typically mandates a local partner.  Competing for government contracts without a local partner can be challenging and cost-ineffective, even when tenders are open to foreign participation.  Tenders are often tailored to goods and services available in the local market, announced in hard copy with short deadlines, and accompanied by bureaucratic requirements that are difficult to navigate without local representation.
Building personal relationships, preferably through face-to-face meetings, is essential for effective business engagement in Botswana.  Formality and respect for protocol are highly valued and facilitate strong partnerships.  Government officials and business managers are less likely to take proposals seriously if they are not presented by an individual or company physically located in Botswana.

The Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC) can assist investors whose projects align with national goals, such as job creation, skill transfer, and economic diversification.  IT-related companies may benefit from partnering with the Botswana Digital Innovation Hub to facilitate market entry.  Investors are encouraged to align their projects with the government’s priorities, including diversifying the economy away from diamond revenues, creating employment, and developing skills and capacity.  The new administration has emphasized attracting self-funding projects that generate revenue and address public sector cashflow challenges.

The U.S. Embassy’s Economic/Commercial Section provides general advice on economic conditions and specific market intelligence.  Services such as Gold Key Matchmaking and International Partner Searches are available for a fee.  For more information, visit https://bw.usembassy.gov.

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Global Business Navigator Chatbot Beta

Welcome to the Global Business Navigator, an artificial intelligence (AI) Chatbot from the International Trade Administration (ITA). This tool, currently in beta version testing, is designed to provide general information on the exporting process and the resources available to assist new and experienced U.S. exporters. The Chatbot, developed using Microsoft’s Azure AI services, is trained on ITA’s export-related content and aims to quickly get users the information they need. The Chatbot is intended to make the benefits of exporting more accessible by understanding non-expert language, idiomatic expressions, and foreign languages.

Limitations

As a beta product, the Chatbot is currently being tested and its responses may occasionally produce inaccurate or incomplete information. The Chatbot is trained to decline out of scope or inappropriate requests. The Chatbot’s knowledge is limited to the public information on the Export Solutions web pages of Trade.gov, which covers a wide range of topics on exporting. While it cannot provide responses specific to a company’s product or a specific foreign market, its reference pages will guide you to other relevant government resources and market research. Always double-check the Chatbot’s responses using the provided references or by visiting the Export Solutions web pages on Trade.gov. Do not use its responses as legal or professional advice. Inaccurate advice from the Chatbot would not be a defense to violating any export rules or regulations.

Privacy

The Chatbot does not collect information about users and does not use the contents of users’ chat history to learn new information. All feedback is anonymous. Please do not enter personally identifiable information (PII), sensitive, or proprietary information into the Chatbot. Your conversations will not be connected to other interactions or accounts with ITA. Conversations with the Chatbot may be reviewed to help ITA improve the tool and address harmful, illegal, or otherwise inappropriate questions.

Translation

The Chatbot supports a wide range of languages. Because the Chatbot is trained in English and responses are translated, you should verify the translation. For example, the Chatbot may have difficulty with acronyms, abbreviations, and nuances in a language other than English.

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