Botswana Investment and Trade Centre at the invitation of the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) has been requested to mobilize the private sector in Botswana to attend the Commonwealth Business Forum (CBF) slated for 21-23 June 2022 in Kigali, Rwanda. The CBF 2022 will be the first and largest in-person gathering for Governments and Businesses across the Commonwealth since the start of the on-going COVID-19 Pandemic.
The Forum is hosted as a partnership between the Government of Rwanda and the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council (CWEIC). It will convene over 1000 participants, inclusive of Heads of States, key Government Officials, business leaders, innovators across several sectors, global thought leaders and the Youth owned businesses. The Business Forum will be held under the theme “Delivering a common future: Connecting, Innovating, Transforming, with a focus on a Global Reset, dealing with the impact of the pandemic and the Commonwealths role of rebuilding and reinvigorating the global economy”.
The high-level business engagement will see participation by a business delegation from Botswana led by key Officials from the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre. With this delegation the Forum will present opportunities to create meaningful connections, exchange knowledge, contribute towards impactful dialogue and the consumption of information. The event in Kigali promises to deliver amongst other activities, 14 Interactive plenary and parallel sessions, 3 sector specific mixers, 3 Thought Leadership Roundtables, 3 field visits and mixers as well as dedicated meeting lounges. Through these activities delegates will have the opportunity to directly host several business-to-business (B2B) meetings with their counterparts.
Participants from across a wide spectrum of the socio-political fabric of the Commonwealth including but not limited to Heads of States, Government Officials, Ministers, leaders of global and regional development institutions, Captains of Industry, Board level Business Leaders, Innovators across sectors, impact investors, Venture capitalists, Angel Investors, Champions of Youth Entrepreneurship, Champions of climate change and sustainability and Representatives from Investment Trade Promotion Agencies will be present.
In creating a platform for direct B2B engagements, BITC will at the Forum host a special dedicated conference session on the 23rd June 2022. The conference session will afford the Centre along with Business Botswana and the Special Economic Zones Authority to present on Botswana’s investment opportunities as well as Doing Business in Botswana.
The expected outcome of these engagements is to see an increase in export oriented foreign direct investment inflows to Botswana, to identify goods (raw materials) or products and services that Botswana could supply to other Commonwealth member states, and to realise an increase in economic activities that will drive job creation and enable self-sufficiency for Batswana.
The delegation consists of twelve (12) Botswana companies from the following sectors; Engineering, Manufacturing, Services (Branding and Communications) and Agro-Processing. Inclusive of the delegation Private Sector Chamber of Commerce and Investment Promotion Agencies namely Business Botswana and SEZA.