The Pan Afrikanist Watchman

Gaborone — First National Bank Botswana (FNBB) and the Selebi Phikwe Economic Diversification Unit (SPEDU) have signed a landmark partnership agreement aimed at accelerating private sector-led industrialisation in the Selebi Phikwe region.

The agreement, announced this week, establishes a framework for joint financing and de-risking of projects aligned to the Botswana Economic Transformation Programme (BETP), Citizen Economic Empowerment, and sustainable finance. It marks the first formal step toward a structured collaboration between the commercial banking sector and SPEDU’s government-led investment facilitation mandate.

SPEDU, wholly owned by the Government of Botswana under the Ministry of Trade and Entrepreneurship, is tasked with regenerating the Selebi Phikwe region following the 2016 closure of the BCL copper-nickel mine. The agency currently oversees an industrial investment pipeline valued at between BWP 5.9 billion and BWP 6.8 billion, much of which requires catalytic and blended finance to move projects from concept to construction.

Under the new partnership, FNBB will work within SPEDU’s existing delivery architecture — including its incentive regime and the Botswana One-Stop Service Centre — to mobilise private sector investment in industrial, agribusiness, tourism, and manufacturing ventures. The collaboration is designed to support government’s drive toward a private sector-led economy, with BETP targeting cumulative private investment of BWP 514 billion by 2036 across 186 projects, 60 percent of which are private sector-driven.

Valentine Harward, Acting Commercial Executive at FNBB, said the partnership reflects the bank’s vision of transformation finance:

“Government provides the mandate, the land, and the incentive architecture; we bring structured capital, credit expertise, and balance sheet. Neither works at scale without the other. Selebi Phikwe is a proving ground for what private sector-led diversification, backed by disciplined banking, can look like outside Gaborone.”

SPEDU Caretaker CEO Ronnie Phuthego welcomed the agreement, noting that access to finance has been the missing link in unlocking the region’s potential:

“Our constraint has never been project ideas; it has been catalytic, bankable finance. A banking partner of FNBB’s scale, willing to work inside our mandate rather than around it, changes what is possible for the 52 settlements we serve.”

Partnership Objectives

• Advancing Citizen Economic Empowerment and Sustainability: FNBB will channel financial solutions to enterprises in the SPEDU region, supporting BETP’s transformation targets in manufacturing, energy, and digitalisation.
• Blended Finance and De-risking Frameworks: The two institutions will co-develop structures combining commercial debt and asset-based finance to catalyse SPEDU’s pipeline.
• Reviving Enterprises: The agreement supports efforts to resuscitate closed manufacturing businesses, with FNBB exploring working capital and turnaround finance.
• Anchor and Value Chain Banking: FNBB will extend financial solutions across agribusiness, manufacturing, and tourism value chains linked to SPEDU projects.
• Replicable Model: By working through SPEDU’s mandate, the partnership is intended as a model for how commercial banks can support regional development agencies elsewhere in Botswana.

Both parties will now begin scoping specific financing needs, co-investment structures, and project pipelines. The agreement is seen as a pivotal step in transforming Selebi Phikwe into a hub of private sector-led industrialisation, supporting Botswana’s broader economic diversification agenda.