President Duma Boko’s 2025 State of the Nation Address placed digitalisation and innovation at the centre of Botswana’s transformation agenda, unveiling new reforms in governance, finance, education, and youth empowerment that signal the country’s leap toward a modern, tech-driven economy.
Declaring digitalisation “a critical enabler of economic transformation,” Boko announced that within six months, government will launch an ultramodern e-government platform through which all public services will be delivered. The system, developed with the Ministry of Communications and Innovation, the Botswana Development Corporation (BDC), and Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC), will be backed by an enhanced national ICT infrastructure to ensure reliability and accessibility.
In another bold reform, government will roll out e-Procurement services next month to eliminate corruption, increase transparency, and standardise procurement processes across ministries, a long-standing challenge that has slowed project delivery.
A major highlight of the president’s digitalisation agenda is the imminent establishment of a National Retail Payment Switch (NRPS), a unified national digital payments platform to be implemented under the Bank of Botswana. The system will streamline transactions, boost financial inclusion, reduce leakages, and ensure that payments for services stay within the local economy. Phase one, involving mapping of the switch requirements, has already been completed, with full implementation expected within 12 months.
Beyond government systems, the president said the digital transition will empower young Batswana through the Presidential Youth Empowerment Campaign (PYEC), which will train 1,000 young people, scaling up to 10,000, to develop digital employability skills. The initiative will produce a Digital Employability Index and establish a Digital Content Creation Hub to support creative entrepreneurship.
Boko also noted progress in positioning Botswana as a regional technology and innovation hub. CCI Global, a major business process outsourcing (BPO) company, has begun operations at the Botswana Digital Innovation Hub, creating 51 jobs with plans to reach 3,000 within three years. Meanwhile, the upcoming Botswana International Financial Centre (BIFC) aims to attract global investors and fintech innovators.
Digital reforms are also transforming public welfare and education. The Ministry of Local Government and Traditional Affairs is automating the social protection system, while the education sector is adopting a STEAM-driven curriculum—integrating science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics—to prepare students for a digital economy.
To secure this growing digital ecosystem, Boko confirmed that the Cybersecurity Act has been passed, establishing a National Cybersecurity Commission to safeguard critical national infrastructure and bolster investor confidence in Botswana’s digital economy.
From e-government platforms to a national payments switch and youth-led innovation, the 2025 State of the Nation Address outlines Botswana’s most ambitious digitalisation agenda yet, a decisive step toward a “digitally enabled, export-driven” high-income economy envisioned in Vision 2036.