Africa Economy & Policy

Botswana Asks Financiers in Rome to Fund Project Preparation So Private Capital Can Follow

Deputy Permanent Secretary to the President Omphile Sehurutshe sought pre-project money and technical support, as Botswana leans on private capital for infrastructure and diversification.

By Tumisang Bogwasi November 14, 2026 5 min read

Deputy Permanent Secretary to the President Omphile Sehurutshe speaks at the Il Metodo Mattei 2026 forum in Rome. Photo: Botswana Government (BWgovernment)

GABORONE, Botswana – Botswana has asked international investors and development financiers to put more money and technical support into project preparation, the early work that turns a government priority into a deal private capital can fund. Deputy Permanent Secretary to the President Omphile Sehurutshe made the appeal at an Africa investment forum in Rome, the Botswana Government said on 14 November.

Highlights

Deputy Permanent Secretary to the President Omphile Sehurutshe asked financiers for pre-project funding and technical support to make African projects bankable.
He said Botswana is increasingly looking to private capital to finance infrastructure and economic diversification.
Botswana’s six priority sectors are agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, financial services and digitalisation, energy and mining, and infrastructure.
Botswana is not one of the 18 partner nations of Italy’s Mattei Plan for Africa, which started with EUR 5.5 billion.

The appeal

Sehurutshe urged institutions able to finance and support project development to provide the pre-project resources needed to identify, prioritise, package and structure projects that can attract private investment, according to the government’s account. He said Botswana was increasingly looking to private capital to finance infrastructure development and accelerate economic diversification.

The government quoted him as saying: “Through the National Development Plan 12 and the Botswana Economic Transformation Programme, Botswana has identified its economic ‘True North’, anchored on six priority sectors: agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, financial services and digitalisation, energy and mining, and infrastructure. The country’s three social priorities are healthcare, education and social protection.”

He told investors that, under President Duma Boko and Vice President Ndaba Gaolathe, Botswana was positioning itself as a leading investment destination in Africa.

Omphile Sehurutshe presents a slide titled Six sectors, three social priorities — Deputy Permanent Secretary to the President Omphile Sehurutshe presents Botswana’s six priority sectors and three social priorities. Photo: Botswana Government (BWgovernment)

Which forum

The government described the event as the Mattei Plan Summit. Signage in its photographs shows it was Il Metodo Mattei 2026, an international forum held at the Grand Hotel Plaza in Rome on 12 and 13 November and organised by the Fondazione SED Enrico Mattei, a foundation named after the founder of the Italian energy group Eni. The foundation says the forum brings African governments, companies, technical partners and financiers together to turn priorities into concrete, financeable projects. Its programme included a session on the criteria for project bankability and country-focus sessions, one of them on Botswana.

Omphile Sehurutshe speaks with a microphone beside a lectern — Omphile Sehurutshe addresses the forum. Photo: Botswana Government (BWgovernment)

What the Mattei Plan is

The Mattei Plan for Africa is the Italian government’s national strategy for relations with African nations. It was set up under a decree-law of November 2023 and began with EUR 5.5 billion: EUR 3 billion from the Italian Climate Fund and EUR 2.5 billion from the foreign ministry’s development cooperation instruments, used through a mix of loans, grants and guarantees. The Italian Climate Fund can also take equity stakes, and its operations carry a state counter-guarantee intended to attract private investment.

In its third annual report, covering the year to 30 June 2026, the Italian government counted 76 projects under way, about EUR 1.2 billion approved by the Italian Climate Fund’s technical committee for 15 interventions in Africa, and EUR 4 billion of guarantees from export credit agency SACE for investments in partner nations. It also lists a partnership with the African Development Bank (AfDB) under the Mattei Plan-Rome Process Financing Facility.

The Plan has 18 partner nations. Botswana is not one of them, although neighbouring Zambia and fellow Southern African Development Community members Angola and Mozambique are.

Why project preparation matters

Project preparation covers identification, pre-feasibility and feasibility studies, environmental and social assessments, design, structuring, and procurement and concession agreements, according to the AfDB. The bank estimates Africa’s infrastructure needs at USD 130 billion to USD 170 billion a year, leaving a financing gap of USD 68 billion to USD 108 billion. Its then president, Akinwumi Adesina, said in 2023 that 80% of infrastructure projects in Africa fail at the feasibility stage and only 10% reach financial close.

For contractors, investors and bidders in public-private partnerships, this stage decides what reaches the market. The AfDB notes that preparation can be very risky for private developers, who are not compensated when projects fail to reach financial close. That is why governments, donors and development finance institutions are usually asked to fund it.

Omphile Sehurutshe stands with two other forum participants in front of a blue event backdrop — Omphile Sehurutshe (left) with other participants at the forum in Rome. Photo: Botswana Government (BWgovernment)

Botswana’s pipeline

The appeal follows President Boko’s State of the Nation Address, which put rail, water and a P25.5 billion airport city at the centre of the industrial plan and targeted 2027/28 procurement for the Trans-Kalahari Railway and the Chobe-Zambezi water scheme. At the Botswana Investment Forum, Gaolathe said government must be a catalyst rather than the main financier of investment.

The Ministry of Finance began technical meetings for the 2027 budget in August. Separately, the European Union’s ambassador has offered to back the Botswana Economic Transformation Programme through Global Gateway, and S&P Global has urged African governments to pool projects into investment platforms.

Sources

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