A noble and dedicated candidate who also served as a member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) panel in Botswana. He has served with enthusiasms and integrity over the past 10 years in an audit and accounting environment. His accounting experience includes public and private sector and diverse industries, including non-profit NGOS. Driven by passion after achieving all the required experience, He formed Mamlathan & Associates and became the managing partner of this Audit Tax & Advisory firm as well as Whiteprint (PTY)LTD on the accounting side.

Over the years, he has shared his knowledge in different platforms encouraging, guiding and mentoring students, affiliates and members in their Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) journey and also served as an ACCA advocate. His journey began in 2013 when he got his Association of Chartered Certified Accountant (ACCA) qualification and started one of the fast-growing firm in2014, located in Botswana. It is focusing on consultation, audit as well as tax and advisory.

As Association of Chartered Certified Accountant (ACCA) member he embraced several business opportunities as a Practicing partner and would like to contribute in the Global Strategy and Governance of ACCA. He is standing proudly as ACCA Fellow Member and would like to make all members proud of their ACCA membership as a Global Dynamic Accounting Body. Mr. Mompati Kgaimena is aware and mindful of the challenges faced by members and students of ACCA, particularly in new and developing markets, especially now that the African industries are growing. The contribution he is willing to bring as council member will add value in accounting and business, in line with Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s). His wish is to serve on the Council and be involved at the strategic level, examining issues of wider reaching and longer-term importance and help in establishing ACCA’s position on global issues.

Recently released GDP data revealed that the economy lost some steam at the start of the year, growing 4.8% in Q1 on a year-on-year basis, down from the 6.5% expansion recorded in Q4 2017. Despite the slowdown, the pace of growth remained robust, driven by stronger private consumption growth and a solid rebound in fixed investment. Meanwhile, a sizeable decline in exports of diamonds—which account for the vast majority of Botswana’s total exports—weighed on the overall first-quarter performance. Weak external sector activity is likely to have persisted in Q2, with exports contracting by nearly a quarter in April, mainly reflecting decreased shipments of diamonds.

Botswana Economic Growth

Despite a subdued start to the year, export activity is expected to pick up on the heels of higher diamond demand and remain a driver of growth going forward. Higher public spending in line with the government’s national development plan will also provide support to the non-mining economy. FocusEconomics panelists see GDP growing 4.4% in 2018, up 0.3 percentage points from last month’s estimate, and 4.6% in 2019.

Botswana Economy Data

Read more on: https://www.focus-economics.com/countries/botswana

This investment is good news for a sector that has demonstrated over several years that it is stable and robust. According to the African Economic Outlook 2017, Botswana has been making steady progress in increasing access to financial services for its population. Since 2009, the banked population has increased by 25%. From a low base, cell phone banking rose by over 370% and Internet banking by 200% during the same period.

This growth in the sector is good news, too, for employment, which continues to be a challenge for the Botswana economy. While unemployment is starting to show a slight decrease according to the latest statistics, it is still considered to be too high at 17%. Botswana suffered historic job losses following the global financial crisis, especially in the mining sector. State owned enterprises have also retrenched hundreds of employees over the past decade.

The good news is that there are plenty of opportunities for accounting professionals in the country – the bad news is that there are not currently enough people able to take these up. The Botswana Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA) says there is a huge need for chartered accountants, professionals and technicians. There are currently 3,136 registered BICA members (1,223 accounting professionals and 1,913 being accounting technicians) which falls short of demand. The shortage means that Botswana has to import expatriates for accounting services. Many qualified accountants also leave the country to work overseas.

Read more on: http://www.weekendpost.co.bw/wp-news-details.php?nid=4864

Botswana is one of the many countries in Africa that is fortunate to boast a diverse wealth of minerals.

However, like any nation involved in mining, Botswana’s state of affairs can be seen through mixed views.

Botswana boasts a brilliant mineral portfolio, especially since its large-scale mining diamond production began some 25 years ago. This resulted in Botswana leading at the forefront as far as diamond production is concerned. Jwaneng itself will feature among the top super pit mines in the world upon completion of the famous Cut 8 project.

Botswana has a stable full of operations. Francistown includes the Tait Nickel Mine, Mupani Gold, Orapa Mine, African Copper Mowana Mine and Bots Ash, while Selebi Phikwe has BCL Mine, Lerala Diamonds, Morupule Colliery and Morupule power station.

It is very easy to get excited about how Botswana’s mining industry fares at present. However, Charles Siwawa, chief executive officer (CEO) of Botswana’s Chamber of Mines, provides a very realistic illustration of the situation at present.

Speaking realistically
“The situation is actually not in good shape at the moment,” said Siwawa. “This is primarily due to subdued commodity prices. A lot of mines are struggling here in Botswana at the moment as they can’t sell at the required revenues to keep them afloat. There needs to be a ‘cushion’ in place between the cost profile and the revenue profile for an organisation to operate effectively. However the situation is cyclic so it will come right in the future, nobody knows for sure when but the indications are that should the market respond positively the prices will rebound. In these kinds of circumstances we are able to have an influence over costs (reducing costs where we can) whereas we have no or little influence over revenue.”

Hope in coal to liquid
Private energy company Coal Petroleum recently announced that it had commenced with the development of a 20 000bpd Coal to Liquids Co-generation and Fertiliser Project to be located in Francistown, North East District, Botswana. The project will be run over three phases until 2020 and is expected to deliver up to 304MW power to the Botswana national grid. The intention is to ultimately scale the facility to a capacity of 50 000bpd.

“The successful completion of this project will provide a foundation for a national move towards energy security and supporting continued economic growth in Botswana,” said Dr Brendon Hausberger from Holland & Hausberger, who are Coal Petroleum’s Technical Advisors.

The project has been in preparation for over 18 months, during which the baseline technical and economic assessment of a commercial scale coal-to-liquid (CTL) facility in Botswana was completed. This study has demonstrated a technically viable and lucrative business case.

The proposed project site in the Dumela Industrial Area has excellent infrastructure access; this includes power and water access to the site as well as road, rail, and housing facilities for the execution of the project and ongoing operations. Coal Petroleum has secured the key technology licences necessary for the project.

The project will bring a total investment of over US$4,2 billion (about R60,3 billion) to Botswana, and strongly aligns with the Botswana National Imperatives of energy security and independence of supply combined with the efficient and environmentally conscious beneficiation of the local coal resources.

Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water Resources, Mr Kgomotso Abi said this at the high level sensitisation breakfast meeting on WAVES in Gaborone on February 10 .

WAVES is a global partnership that aims to mainstream natural capital in development planning and national economic accounts in support of sustainable development.

“We take pride in the way we’ve managed our natural capital. Of course people know about our diamond, copper and tourism. So, as a country, really it makes a lot of sense for us to be in the lead in terms of Wealth Accounting and the Valuation of Ecosystem Services (WAVES),” he added.

Mr Abi said recognising the effort that Botswana had done so far in terms of WAVES, the NCA in Botswana “is led from the very top. It is something that has been approved by cabinet. It’s something that our President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama drives with passion.”

Natural Capacity Accounting, Mr Abi said helps to bring together information on how natural resources were contributing to the economy, information on natural capital stocks and flows, uses and users, scarcities and potentials to help improve development decisions. Thus Botswana, Mr Abi said was very much alive to the need for NCA, adding that WAVES was one of the initiatives in that effort.

This, he said was also why in 2012 the country hosted the Gaborone Declaration on Sustainability for Africa and the subsequent one in 2013, adding that Botswana must be alive to NCA, because of its heavy dependence on natural resources, climate change and land productivity deterioration.

These three factors, Mr Abi said, “Should actually focus our minds to say we cannot just go on as business as usual, something must change and that’s where now NCA and the WAVES programme that we are currently pursuing came in to assist us.

Read more on: http://www.dailynews.gov.bw/news-details.php?nid=17642