Staff Writer
18 April 2008
Gaborone — The Botswana Export Development and Investment Authority (BEDIA) will next week host a delegation of eleven Indian investors here on a mission to explore potential investment opportunities in the glass, leather and coal manufacturing industries.
BEDIA Public Relations Officer, Kungo Lentswe says the delegation will hold a seminar on Monday and thereafter meet one-on-one with local investors until Thursday.
"They are coming to explore possibilities like setting up their factories here or importing raw materials to their country."
Lentswe says the idea is for the delegation to form partnerships or joint ventures with Batswana. BEDIA has invited local entrepreneurs or companies interested in discussing potential partnerships with the Indian companies to forward their company profiles to BEDIA.
Lentswe says after assessing the company profiles, they will arrange one-on-one business meetings between the local companies and the delegates from India.
Raw materials for glass manufacturing like silica, sand, quartz, quartzite, limestone and soda ash are available in abundance in Botswana. The Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) has already entered into partnerships with foreign investors to manufacture float glass in Palapye. The plant has targeted limestone sand around Mmamabula area and soda ash from Botash in Sowa Town.
Botswana also has huge coal deposits, which are largely earmarked for energy generation rather than manufacturing.
Aviva Corporation, which listed on the BSE last year, announced recently that it had about 1.287 billion tonnes of coal at the Mmamantswe coalfields, while the Mmamabula reserves are estimated to be around 2.3 billion.
Asenjo Energy, a joint venture between Sentula Mining, Jonah Capital and Aquila Resources, says the estimated coal resource at its Western Mmamabula, Lechana Tshimoyapula and Dukwe projects is 6.7 billion tonnes.
Leather manufacturing is also viable. The Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) said on Wednesday that it slaughtered 171, 299 cattle for the year ended 31st December 2007. There is already a tannery in Phakalane.
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