Commerical Reports

Glass Manufacturing

There is enormous potential for manufacturing glass products, particularly glass
fibers, bulb and tube glass, laminated safety glass for automotive applications and
construction glass, in Botswana. Botswana’s economic strategy aims to promote rapid growth sustained by economic diversification. Although manufacturing and industry currently account for around five percent of GDP and ten percent of formal sector employment, growth has slowed in recent years. Historically, Botswana’s major manufacturing exports have only been in vehicles and textiles. What makes prospects in Botswana so attractive is not the small domestic market but rather the access to larger markets through regional integration and international trade agreements. Botswana is a member of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Bureaucratic bottlenecks, high rental costs, and relatively low labor productivity obstructed development of manufacturing in the past. Remedies such as fast-track streamlining of administrative procedures, offering foreign investors easy and expedited access to land, either through ownership or long-term leases, and efforts to improve labor force skills have been proposed to overcome these hurdles. A key incentive for private sector investors is the concessionary 15 percent corporate income tax rate, applicable to most manufacturing under the development approval order system, which applies through 2020.

Recent measures to improve the business environment include the introduction of a new Companies Act, based on a modern company law framework, and simplified, transparent procedures. Manufacturing requires a license under the Industrial Development Act of 1988, amended in1993. The licensing is used in manufacturing to ensure that companies comply with environmental, health, planning and zoning requirements.

Glass Manufacturing in Botswana

Government policy promotes downstream processing of minerals, known as natural resource beneficiation. Besides diamonds, Botswana has salt and soda ash. The Government is interested in the establishment of a local glass manufacturing industry. The availability of the raw materials indicates that glass production is one of the more viable industrial development projects. The Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) and the Botswana Export Development and Investment Authority (BEDIA), both of which are currently conducting research and negotiations regarding glass manufacturing, assist manufacturing and industrial enterprises.