INVESTMENT PROMOTION

The purpose of the Investment Promotion function is to facilitate investment and provide after care for local and foreign investors. Critical aspects of this objective are Business Development and Research and Development. These components intend primarily to create a conducive investment environment as well as to create a knowledge based economy for purposes of wealth creation and enhancement of quality of life for the people of the Region.

The Key Performance Area (KPA) of the Investment Promotion function is as follows:

Investment Promotion

This entails enhancement of the image of the Region as a key destination for investment across the wide priority sectors and their extensive value chains. It also entails marketing the investment opportunities in the Region for ease, efficiency and effectiveness of investor uptake.

This key performance area is concerned with the research and investigation of key opportunities and subsequently packaging the opportunities for investors uptake. The Investment Promotion Function leads the collection, collation, custodianship and dissemination of data, information, statistics and knowledge so as to enable more informed investment decision making.

Investment Facilitation and Investor after-care

These are core Business Development initiatives geared at: a) acting as an intermediary for investors. Activities within this KPA include supporting investors to attain preliminary compliance as a precursor for investment. This entails sourcing of licences, permits, visas and such services as provided through the Botswana One-Stop- Service Centre (BOSSC). It also entails support for acquisition of land for production, facilitating access to investor incentives and ensuring compliance with such legal dispensation as the Environmental Impact Assessment Act. b) Matching foreign and local investors so as to create the crucial synergies that support investment. This includes among other things the facilitation of joint ventures between local and foreign investors, optimisation of value chain opportunities and exploration and exploitation of cluster potential across sectors. c) Promoting Public Private Partnerships that would enable optimisation of key public and private resources, assets and expertise for the purpose of developing a sustainable regional economy.

Lobby for conducive environment

Promoting a business friendly environment and strengthening investor confidence in the Region are the main performance areas for creating a conducive environment for investment and business. In this endeavour, SPEDU’s role is to identify barriers to trade and lobbying together with investors and other stakeholders for the removal of such barriers and impediments.

Networking and Coordination

SPEDU proactively supports networking and coordinates the concomitant activities thereof, ensuring the enhancement of synergies among a wide base of local, regional, global, public, private, Non-Government Organisations, Chambers of Commerce and related business groupings as well as other Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) so as to ensure increased access by the Region’s investors to markets, technology, knowledge, funding and such other services as would effectively support and enhance inward investment.

Enhancing SPEDU sustainability

In order to ensure that SPEDU continues to discharge its mandate effectively, the Investment Promotion Function investigates, plans, develops and implements those initiates that would subsequently enable the company to increase its resource base and reduce dependence on the monolithic government subvention.

In the delivery of its mandate the Investment Promotion function caries out regular targeted local, regional and global investment promotion missions primarily to lure investors to the Region.