By Zwelibanzi Sapula

Executive Director and Head of Mission, SADC Development Finance Resource Centre

In his State of the Nation Address on 9 November, President Duma Boko asked a question that deserves more attention in our national conversation. How do we produce more?

For a manufacturer deciding whether to open a factory in Botswana, the answer is practical. When will the site be ready? Will there be reliable power and water? How much will it cost to move goods to customers across the region? These may be separate projects on a government schedule. For the manufacturer, they are part of one investment decision.

We should apply the same thinking to how we attract capital. The 2026 Budget Speech identified 186 projects and initiatives under the Botswana Economic Transformation Programme (BETP), which sits within the broader National Development Plan 12 (NDP 12).

The opportunity for Botswana is to decide which of those investments belong together, which should come first, and how each will move from a proposal to an operating asset.

Why infrastructure funds back platforms

When an infrastructure fund looks at a solar plant, it asks who will buy the power, whether the grid can take it, and whether the revenue will support the investment. If the answers are convincing, the fund may invest. When the next project comes to market, much of that work begins again.

Now consider what changes when the fund backs a business that can develop and operate several plants. It can invest in stages as projects are ready. The team carries forward its supplier relationships, operating systems,s and knowledge of the market. As assets mature, the fund can refinance them or sell them and reinvest the proceeds. It can also sell its stake in the operating business to a buyer that values its ability to develop the next generation of projects.

A succession of credible opportunities can justify the cost of building a team in Botswana. But that team costs money even when projects are delayed. And several plants that depend on the same constrained grid still share a common risk. The platform is only as credible as its ability to bring the next project into operation.

A project list is not a pipeline

A pipeline is a prioritised sequence of projects with an accountable sponsor, a clear economic purpose and a funded route from concept to implementation. Projects earn their place by showing what they can change for Botswana. Will they lower the cost of doing business, help producers reach new markets, improve the reliability of essential services, or unlock further investment? Those are the projects worth spending scarce preparation resources on.

You cannot build a pipeline without funding project preparation. Someone has to pay to test demand, assess technical options, resolve land and approvals, and establish what the project will cost, who will pay for the service, and who can manage each risk. That work begins well before a bank or a pension fund can make an investment decision. It may lead us to redesign a project, deliver it in phases,s or drop it altogether. Each of those decisions can save Botswana years of delay and money that could be put to better use.

This is where a long list can become an exercise in vanity. We can attach an impressive value to it and take it from one investor meeting to the next. But if nobody has funded the work needed to answer the investor’s first questions, the same projects will be on the same list when we return. Botswana should give preparation its own budget, release funding as projects pass defined milestones and judge progress by the decisions that move projects towards delivery.

The BETP initiatives and the wider project lists of the National Planning Commission (NPC) and NDP 12 provide a starting point. President Boko reported that the Mmadinare and Jwaneng solar plants had added 200 MW to the national grid. A follow-on programme would prepare successive rounds of renewable power alongside the grid upgrades needed to connect them. At the airport Special Economic Zone, the President reported the transfer of 82 serviced plots and the signing of the first investor lease. The next question is whether factory space, utilities and freight access can be ready when tenants need them. These are the dependencies a funded preparation programme can resolve.

Design the handover before the first investment

The funding architecture should allow each institution to invest at the stage that suits its mandate. Preparation funding gets a project to an investment decision. A developer may then put in equity, and a development finance institution (DFI) may provide long-term debt or take risks other lenders are unable to carry at that stage. Commercial banks can lend alongside the DFI or refinance part of its exposure once the asset is operating and has a reliable track record.

Pension funds and insurers can then invest where the operating cash flows, risk and investment term suit their mandates. They could acquire an equity stake, buy a project bond or invest in a vehicle holding several operating assets. Where the scale, governance and disclosure support it, the bonds or the vehicle itself could be listed. As DFIs and banks refinance or sell their exposures, they can use the capital released to finance the next projects.

That handover has to be designed from the beginning. If we expect a pension fund to invest once a plant is operating, we should ask early what operating history it will need, how predictable the revenues must be, and whether the debt or equity can transfer on workable terms. Those answers should inform how the project is prepared and contracted. The NPC can bring sponsors around one pipeline, the Ministry of Finance can test affordability and fiscal exposure, and the BETP delivery team can help resolve issues across institutions. SADC-DFRC can support preparation and bring DFIs, banks and institutional investors into the discussion while there is still time to shape the financing.

Conclusion

If we are serious about the President’s question of how Botswana produces more, I would start with a few programmes that can materially improve the economics of doing business here. Fund their preparation, give each project an accountable sponsor, and agree early how the financing can pass from one institution to the next. The first projects should deliver power that businesses can rely on, factory space that tenants can occupy or freight connections that bring producers closer to their customers. When those assets are operating, long-term investors can help release the capital to finance the next round. That is how Botswana can turn its development plans into a sustained investment programme.

Sources for the editor: 2026 State of the Nation Address, paragraphs 13 and 18–21  •  2026 Budget Speech