Do you live in Botswana and want to start your own business? Do you need solid small business ideas that can allow you to supplement your income?
Botswana is an excellent spot to establish a business. We are going to provide a list of interesting, different and small profitable business ideas to start in Botswana.
Botswana is certainly one of the safest countries on this continent, with a stable political climate and a strong growing economy thanks to its wealth of natural resources.
Generally, though Botswana has quite low levels of corruption, public services, such as roads and medical infrastructure are good across the country and civil unrest has almost unheard of in recent years.
Starting a business often necessitates doing feasibility studies to understand the kind of businesses that flourish in the area where you want to start your own business, as well as the types of businesses that may fulfil the needs of the locals.
Best Small Business Ideas to Start in Botswana
As an entrepreneur, your first start is to learn about the services or goods that are available in the location where you want to open your own business.
If you reside in Gaborone, Francistown, Molepolole, Palapye, Lobatse, Kanye or Mahalapye and you want to start your own business, selecting one of the following opportunities will be very beneficial.
The following are the top 35 small business and investment opportunities in Botswana.
1. Start A Profitable Blog
If you can write or have the capacity to learn how to write, start a blog. Blogging is a good way to make money online in Botswana. All you need is internet access, good research skill, an interest, a laptop and a lot of time.
Your most important and perhaps expensive investment in a blogging career is your time.
Also, since you would want people to find your blog posts without manually promoting them all the time, you would need to learn how to optimize your posts for search engines like Google or hire the services of an SEO Expert in Botswana.
2. Open a Hardware Shop
Setting up a hardware shop in Botswana is a wonderful business idea not just because you don’t need any special talents to get started, but also because the beginning costs are fairly low.
You can open a store in a commercial location and sell a broad range of items at reasonable prices.
To make it more enticing, you may create an online storefront from which consumers can select goods and provide free delivery.
3. Tourism and Hospitality
Tourism and hospitality are two of the best business opportunities in Botswana.
Chobe National Park, Tsodilo, Khama Rhino Sanctuary, Kalahari Desert, Kubu Island, and many more locations have become popular tourist destinations throughout the globe.
As you would imagine, there are many opportunities in this area, such as hotel services, camping equipment rental, transportation, resorts, and so on.
There is also the possibility of international investors collaborating with Botswana’s governments — for example, to develop interior rivers or national parks.
The barriers to entry in this business area are minimal, and it needs little money.
4. Roadside Fast Food Corner
This is an established, tried-and-true business. Food is a great business area if you want to enjoy the benefits slowly but gradually. Food is a fundamental necessity, and its need will never decrease.
As a result, it is seen as a profitable activity. If you are a hard worker who wants to put your culinary talents to the test, this is the business for you.
Maintain high quality and portion control, be outstanding, and develop your brand. Follow these basic guidelines, and first-time visitors will soon become regulars.
5. Become a Digital Marketer
In Botswana, digital marketing may be a lucrative source of income. As a result, while considering small business ideas in this country, digital marketing business is an excellent option.
Furthermore, this business requires little to no investment.
All you need is a computer, internet access, and some understanding of digital marketing. You will mostly need SEO and SEM experts, a digital marketing analyst, an experienced content creator or manager, and a graphic designer for this kind of marketing.
If you have them in your network, you are ready to pursue this business opportunity.
6. Open a Cyber Café
With the rising need for online services in Botswana, surfing the internet is becoming more of a regular occurrence.
People are either utilizing personal gadgets or cyber cafés to connect to the internet. Starting and maintaining a successful cyber café necessitates a substantial investment in cyber café equipment.
Smartphones are reducing the need for internet cafés in several nations. However, many additional activities, including printing, photocopying, scanning, typing, binding, laminating, graphic design, and so forth, cannot be performed on a smartphone.
These services may be provided in addition to internet services.
7. Open Fitness Centre
With the frightening rise in the rate of obesity in Botswana, a fitness centre is a good business to set up anywhere.
If you aim to have all the equipment needed to start a standard fitness centre, you may run into financial difficulties, so you should start small with just the basics, and offer your services to your neighbourhood for the time being.
You can even start from your own home if you have a sizable one, but ensure that you adequately publicize your fitness centre so that you can gain enough membership to help you expand the business.
8. Clothing Brand
With such a creative culture, Botswana is one of the greatest countries to consider launching a clothing line. Are you artistically or creatively inclined?
If you are all of these things, you might consider starting your clothesline by developing your fabric style.
One thing to consider is that clothing will always be a necessity—and therefore, there will always be a market! It’s critical to strike the proper mix between price and quality.
Everyone is searching for something different, so whatever balance you discover, keep your target audience in mind.
9. Start a Mobile Spa Service
A spa is a business that provides a variety of services to improve health, beauty and relaxation through personal care treatments.
Spas offer a variety of services such as manicures, pedicures, hair care, seaweed wraps, aromatherapy, facials, waxing, acupuncture, facial and full-body massages.
These services are almost essential because people need to relax and pamper themselves after working so hard during the week.
10. Open a Tutoring Centre
Education is a basic right, yet there aren’t enough excellent schools to meet demand. Not just Botswanans, but every parent on the planet wants his or her kid to get the best education possible.
Due to the scarcity of high-quality schools in Botswana, tutoring may provide a lucrative income.
Don’t restrict yourself to only academic instruction. Make a lesson out of your hard and soft talents. Can you, for example, play a musical instrument?
Do you have the ability to sketch or create jewellery? Are you a foodie or a cook? Do you excel in a particular sport? What about website design? Perhaps you like creative writing, dancing, or even farming.
Tutoring is a lucrative small business opportunity in Botswana. You may choose to work part-time or full-time.
Before you start tutoring, make sure you have extensive knowledge and expertise in your chosen field.
11. Agriculture
Agriculture is one of Botswana’s best business ideas. Botswana has vast tracts of rich terrain suited for agriculture, which contributes significantly to the country’s expanding economy.
As a result, the Botswanan government has implemented outstanding farmer incentives. This is to guarantee that they operate in favourable circumstances, which will increase food output and reduce food imports.
You may choose to invest in any of the following profitable businesses: chicken farming, plantain plantations, pig farming, maize farming, rice farming, and so on.
Botswana may be an excellent place to invest in agriculture and horticulture. It is the primary method of human consumption, therefore it is critical when considering manufacturing.
For local farmers, the industry also offers up a plethora of additional secondary business opportunities.
This creates opportunities for people who are competent and interested in working in fields and are knowledgeable about producing raw agricultural products and animals.
12. Start a Recruiting and Staffing Agency
The country is home to several businesses and global corporations. When candidates have a lot of alternatives, recruitment firms assist them in finding the best-suited position for them.
Companies, on the other hand, find it difficult to carry out their recruiting process in this accelerated business situation, which is where recruitment agencies come in.
And, certainly, don’t be concerned about the applications; there are millions of individuals around the country who either need a job or want to change careers.
You may gain a lot from this company by just keeping a modest commission in exchange for your services.
13. Open Professional Cleaning Services
If you’re handy with a mop and a rag, you might start a cleaning business. You may simply start your own cleaning business, or if you have enough money saved up, you can purchase a cleaning franchise.
You may concentrate on retail enterprises and keep your consumers concentrated in one or two blocks.
If you offer excellent services, it will act as a kind of advertisement for you since your clients will spread the word.
14. Start A Dating Website
Dating or matching services assist individuals in meeting, communicating, interacting, and ultimately forming a romantic connection.
Many individuals all around the globe are searching for love, and you may start this service as a small business that aims to connect those looking for love in Botswana.
You may opt to specialize in a societal speciality for greater assimilation.
15. Open An Organic Food Store
Because food in the twenty-first century is increasingly laced with chemicals and harmful ingredients, and people’s lives are often unpleasant and stressful, this kind of business is a vital and forward-thinking niche.
Many individuals want outdoor and nutritious, fresh meals. It may be beneficial to have both a garden with fresh food and a restaurant with meals made entirely of natural and healthy ingredients.
16. Start A Car Wash Business
The car wash business is very lucrative for a city like Gaborone; it requires little investment and skills and you are ready to start the business.
The majority of people are lazy to clean their cars themselves, target them by providing the best services and making them your regular customers.
You can add sidelines for tyre changing, pressure checks, etc.
The vehicle repair sector is already congested, and while the car wash business is just getting started, therefore it’s a great time to start your car wash business in the big cities of Botswana.
17. Laundry and Dry Cleaning Service
Everyone does laundry, and as such a laundry service is a good business to start anywhere including Botswana.
This business, even as it is lucrative requires very little startup capital and expertise.
All you need to do is find a good location and gather the required equipment.
Spread the word of your business all over your neighbourhood and you will surely get customers, provided you offer quality services.
18. Translation Service
Botswana is home to enterprises and startups with target audiences all over the world, and to connect effectively with them, they must speak their language.
If you are fluent in a foreign language, you should establish a translation service to assist businesses with translating foreign-language website content, marketing materials, films, and other materials so that people from other countries can comprehend them.
19. Start a Private Security firm
Security is very essential in every city in Botswana. One major factor that drives the private security industry is the inadequate distribution of law enforcement personnel, so individuals and companies are forced to hire private security personnel for things like event security and residential patrol.
If you have some experience in this area, then you can decide to seek to license and open your private security firm in Botswana.
20. Open a Modern Restaurant
Setting up a canteen, diner, restaurant, or bakery is one of the most profitable food business ideas in Botswana. The reason why restaurants thrive regardless of the state of the economy is obvious: we need to eat every day to survive.
So, even if the economy is grimacing, we will still squeeze out some bucks to feed our bellies with.
You can also think of a mobile restaurant that enables you to provide breakfast, lunch, and snacks on the road and at your convenience.
It also does not need a large investment. But, certainly, the cuisine should be the best to attract an increasing number of customers.
For smart entrepreneurs with the required capital, starting a restaurant business in Botswana is one of the best business decisions to make.
If you can create high-quality food, this food business will guarantee that you never have to report to a supervisor again. If you want to earn money from cooking or baking as a pastime, improve your culinary abilities.
21. Livestock farming
Livestock farming is one of the most popular businesses in Botswana y. The huge demand for livestock products in Botswana and beyond leaves huge profit opportunities for livestock farmers.
If you have the required startup capital, starting a livestock farm is one of the best business decisions to make in Botswana.
22. Advertising Firm
Every company has to promote itself and improve its presence in the eyes of the public. With so many companies strewn throughout the country, an advertising firm is necessary.
It is a forum for graphic designers, web designers, cameramen, and other media-related professionals to showcase their skills under one roof.
If you have innovative and one-of-a-kind ideas, this is the choice of small business for you to start in Botswana.
23. Catering Business
Family gatherings, large and small ceremonies, corporate dinners, and other similar events cannot take place without proper catering.
These events will continue to take place, necessitating the demand for catering services.
All you need is strong marketing, competent services, and a solid staff.
24. Start a Courier Service
Courier and transportation services, both local and long-distance, are critical in every economy since time-sensitive items must continually be delivered from one location to another.
You can improve your chances of success if you are prepared to make deliveries on short notice, in all weather conditions, and even on holidays.
Word-of-mouth marketing is an important part of establishing this sort of business, so make sure to ask for referrals after you start collecting satisfied clients.
25. Start Event Planning Business
Festivals and large-scale events may be extremely lucrative, particularly if they draw a large number of people.
Selling concert tickets, food, snacks, beverages, and other goods, as well as renting space to shops and vendors, may all earn you a lot of money.
You may draw more people to such events by providing free attractions such as contests, lotteries, or games. Such activities should be well publicized, particularly in the locations where they take place.
26. Computer Repair And Accessory Sales
Setting up a business that provides this service to large companies in Botswana is one of the most profitable self-employment ideas to earn money as more and more organizations continue to outsource key parts of their operations, which includes the repair of office gadgets and PCs.
You should not neglect to do a comprehensive market survey to get a complete understanding of the industry and your main rivals.
This will assist you in developing appealing pricing choices and gaining a competitive edge over current suppliers.
To obtain the most up-to-date training, use internet directories to find technical institutions that offer computer and software engineering degrees.
27. Start a Coffee Shop
Dallas is teeming with coffee enthusiasts. Because many of them are preoccupied with work and commuting, they have little time to prepare theirs in the morning.
Furthermore, they often need a lunchtime pick-me-up to keep them going again till the end of their workday. When someone else makes the coffee, it appears to taste better.
It will be profitable to open a coffee shop in a popular neighbourhood of Gaborone, Francistown, Molepolole, Palapye, Lobatse, Kanye or Mahalapye.
Increase your earnings by selling freshly baked pastries such as bagels, doughnuts, pretzels, cakes, cupcakes, and biscotti.
28. Become A Social Media Consultant
If you already spend a lot of time on social media and know how to acquire likes and views, you’re already ahead of the game. You don’t need any special schooling unless you’re unfamiliar with social networking.
If you are already skilled at social media marketing, there is no investment required, but there is a lot of profit to be made.
Otherwise, if you want to become a social media consultant or manager, you need to invest in some training to learn what it takes to produce material that is appealing to an audience.
29. Open a Daycare Centre
Do you adore children and believe you have what it takes to care for them? You could set up a centre where you could keep an eye on them while their parents are at work.
In today’s Botswana, most families have both parents working, therefore the need for childcare facilities is growing. You may start this business from home with no issues; just make sure your home is kid-proofed.
This business would be best suited to women, particularly retired teachers or nurses.
30. Open a Bakery Store
In today’s culture, events abound, ranging from weddings to birthdays, anniversaries, and end-of-year celebrations. This opens up a lot of possibilities in the baking business.
Baking, decorating, and selling one-of-a-kind cakes and cupcakes for such events is a wonderful business idea for a hobby baker to pursue, and it has the potential to be lucrative.
Without a doubt, baking is a fantastic business to start in Botswana. You may get started on a shoestring budget by making and decorating your cakes in the comfort of your own home.
Forwarding cake samples to interested parties and party planners to guarantee they partner with you when the need arises is a great marketing approach, or you can display your works on Instagram and Facebook using the most effective hashtags that drive sales.
31. Sales Of Mobile Phone Accessories
Today, selling mobile phone accessories is a highly lucrative business in Botswana. According to DigitalData, the number of phone users in Botswana in 2021 is estimated to be 1.89 million.
There is a good possibility that mobile phone users may need one or two phone accessories from time to time. One of the best business ideas in Botswana is to sell mobile phone accessories.
Among the most popular accessories are batteries, airports, battery chargers, memory cards, earpieces, pouches, screen protectors, and so on.
You may get your materials from merchants or internet shops. You may simply start an online importing with the Phone Accessories business.
32. Become a Driver For Uber/Bolt
We are all aware that Uber is very popular in cities such as Gaborone and a few other areas of Botswana.
The majority of individuals opt to become Uber drivers because of the flexibility it provides. Furthermore, it is one of the lucrative business ideas in Gaborone and a few other areas of Botswana.
If you own a vehicle, you have everything you need to get started. All you have to do is join the uberpreneur community and start generating money by earning your commission on each trip.
This is a chance to control your time and work at a time that works best for you. Some Uber drivers work full-time, while others work just at night or during the day.
33. Brick-Making Business
Botswana has experienced true growth in the construction of residences, offices, malls, and government buildings, among other things.
However, this boom in the building industry is not restricted to large corporations with vast financial means.
Small and medium-sized enterprises can also benefit greatly from Botswana’s building boom.
One automated brick production machine costs around $1,080.
The most significant problem currently impeding brick manufacture in Botswana is access to land and the requirement for a steady supply of water, both of which are required for the mass production of brick blocks.
34. Open A Football Watching Center
You may start your football viewing centre right now and make a lot of money.
Have you ever considered turning your passion for football into a career? If so, you’ll find a large group of fans eager to assist you.
The opportunity to generate money from men and women who are enthusiastic about football is only a step away. And the step is on flat ground.
The coming together does not stop at the stadium, as thousands of fans congregate to cheer for their favourite teams. This is one of Botswana’s most profitable businesses.
35. Garbage Collection And Waste Management
Botswana’s garbage collection services are inefficient. Private companies and nonprofit organizations can now provide this service.
Residential waste can be collected and disposed of. This may be done for them at a set monthly fee.
There are hundreds of houses in Gaborone and other places in Botswana where you may collect trash and assist residents in properly disposing of it.
The issue of appropriate trash disposal is a major one in the country, and you may convert it into a revenue generator for yourself.