IN-DEPTH ANALYSES OF BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES BY LEA REGIONS – PHASE IV: RAMOTSWA BRANCH

FINAL REPORT Submitted by: RDD Date of Submission: March 2014 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Assessment of Business Opportunities by LEA Regions Phase IV study is a follow up to Phases I and II studies carried out in study in 2012 which mapped business opportunities across the LEA 13 branch regions. The Phase III study carried out an in-depth analysis of the mapped opportunities for Ghanzi, Tsabong and Kasane branches. The current study’s main objective was to carry out an in- depth analysis of some selected opportunities at the 10 branches that were not covered by the Phase III study. This report presents the in-depth analysis of 5 business opportunities for Ramotswa branch. The analysis was aimed at validating the identified opportunities as well as establishing strengths, challenges and existence of supportive infrastructure and other services that could support the uptake of the identified opportunities in Ramotswa.

The criterion for selecting of opportunities in the current study was based on the ranking of the opportunities which was carried out through workshops with the South East and Lobatse District Economic Development Committees (DEDCs), where highly ranked opportunities were selected for in-depth analysis. Other factors that influenced selection relate to, availability of raw material for the opportunity; availability of technical and financial support geared towards the opportunity; physical environment (i.e. soil, temperature, rainfall and vegetation) supporting the opportunity; economic and social strengths of the opportunity and the value chain position of the opportunity being considered.

Local Enterprise Authority Page ii of 8 F: RDD: 11 Rev.: 01 With the above factors influencing selection of opportunities for further analysis, the five opportunities selected for in-depth analysis in the Ramotswa LEA region are beekeeping; tourism accommodation facilities; animal feed formulation; property development and meat processing respectively.

OVERALL STUDY OBJECTIVE

The overall objective of the study is to provide in-depth analyses of highly ranked identified opportunities for the Ramotswa branch region.

MAJOR FINDINGS

Out of the five business opportunities appraised for the Ramotswa LEA region; four of the opportunities are recommended for possible adoption and promotion by the branch. The four recommended opportunities are beekeeping, tourism accommodation facilities, animal feed manufacturing, and property development. The only opportunity that is not recommended for promotion by the Ramotswa LEA branch is meat processing on account of low demand and high competition in the local meat processing industry. Table 1 summarises the opportunities and factors that lead to their recommendations for promotion by LEA. Table 2 presents information that invalidates the meat processing opportunity for the Ramotswa region.

Local Enterprise Authority Page iii of 8 F: RDD: 11 Rev.: 01 Table 1: Ramotswa LEA region validated Opportunities

MAIN BUSINESS UPSTREAM AND DOWNSTREAM SUPPORTIVE FACTORS OPPORTUNITY OPPORTUNITIES Beekeeping . Supply of packaging materials. . Potential for integration with other land uses; the . Capture and sale of bee colonies opportunity can be exploited within the current . Bee colonies farming agricultural land uses. . Beeswax processing into candles, . Existence of freehold farms in the region lubricants, soaps, body presents opportunity for integration with bee moisturisers. keeping. . Natural honey can be an ingredient . Proximity of the region to the main retail market in the pharmaceuticals industry. in Gaborone. . Manufacture of the bee boxes. . Presence of subsistence and hobby beekeepers with skills in bee keeping in the region.

Tourism . Supply of hospitality amenities. . Availability of demarcated land for hospitality Accommodation . Supply of furniture and hospitality establishments. equipment. . Existence of tourist attractions in the region. Facilities . Supply of food . High occupancy rate of existing tourism related . Supply of Cleaning materials establishments. . Shuttle services . Tour guide services Animal Feed . Packaging materials . Strategic location of the district to the major manufacturing . Transport services transport routes and connectivity to the national . Commercial Animal Production market. . Grain production . Proximity of the region to the international

borders to facilitate imports of main raw materials. . High demand of the feeds as evidenced by the high import bill and low local production. . Availability of industrial land in the region. . Supportive infrastructural developments in the region to facilitate uptake of the opportunity.

Property Development . Supply of construction materials . Government initiative to address the economic such as bricks, sand, concrete depression of Lobatse through the broadening of and bricks. the SPEDU mandate. . Transport Services . Availability of demarcated allocated land in Lobatse. . Property Management Services . Anticipated demand for residential and industrial . Property valuation services properties due to the planned major industrial projects such as the Leather Park and Milk Afric dairy project. . Availability of construction raw materials in the region. . High demand for residential properties as evidenced by housing waiting lists at government institutions.

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Table 2: Ramotswa LEA Region Invalidated Opportunity

OPPORTUNITY REASONS FOR INVALIDATION Meat Processing . High competition from three main processors in the region with a national and international footprint. . Low demand for processed meat products in the local market. . Butcheries carrying out in-house processing for specific meat products. . Legislation (BMC Act) restricting access to the export market for beef and beef products with the exception of the Botswana Meat Commission only.

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RECOMMENDATIONS

The recommendations being proposed LEA management are presented below as per the 5 opportunities appraised.

Table 3: Recommendations proposed for LEA management

OPPORTUNITY RECOMMENDATIONS Bee keeping 1. LEA should promote the bee keeping business opportunity for the Ramotswa region. 2. The LEA should target the current subsistence and hobby bee keepers to upgrade them to commercial bee keeping and honey producers.

Tourism 1. The LEA Enterprise Authority should Accommodation promote a diversified hospitality industry in the Ramotswa LEA region. Facilities Animal Feed 1. LEA should promote animal feed formulation manufacturing in the Ramotswa region. 2. The LEA should also promote inputs suppliers to the feed manufacturing enterprises in the region. Property 1. LEA should flag property development as an Development opportunity for small to medium enterprises in Lobatse. 2. LEA should explore linkages in the property development market that can be exploited by the SMMEs in Lobatse.

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F: RDD: 11 Rev.: 01 Meat Processing 1. The Local Enterprise Authority should not promote meat products processing for the Ramotswa branch region.

2. The Local Enterprise Authority should closely monitor the discussions and developments relating to the liberalization of the beef and beef exports markets and explore the opportunity once the markets are liberalized.

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