Kagiso Koyabe is a development and finance professional with over ten years of professional experience in the financial services sector and development. Often this included the assessment of not only individual companies, institutions and sectors, as well as analysing the conditions of businesses in Botswana across various sectors, to shape and influence the design of policies, strategies and intervention programmes for improved competitiveness. This has in recent times, been integral to developing new initiatives and programmes to further support the growth and competitiveness of the private sector and its support services.

As Coordinator of SMME Development under the EDF funded, Private Sector Development Programme (PSDP) Botswana, he assisted in designing and delivering specific programmed interventions to meet strategic challenges regarding day-to-day operations of small medium and micro enterprises and community-based organisations. This included coordinating technical consultants on projects in various parts of the country to ensure effective and impactful service delivery on projects, within budget and aligned to respective objectives. This opportunity also provided the opportunity to work alongside international experts from organisations such as the International Trade Centre – Geneva, International Labour Organisation – Pretoria (ILO), African Development Bank (AfDB) as well as regional non-for-profit organisation Phyto-Trade Africa, resulting in the publication of a series of 8 Value Chain studies and other business development tools.

As Technology Entrepreneurship Advisor for the Acceleration component of the Botswana Innovation Hub’s First Steps Venture Centre, Mr. Koyabe continued to play the liaison role between the organisation and regional and international partners and collaborators who share the development objective of catalysing economic prosperity through mainstreaming innovation and innovative processes in businesses and programmes. This included support and coordination of the regional Southern African Innovation Collective (SAIC) Boost Up Regional Innovation Pitch Programme from 2020 through 2023. Other notable partnerships maintained during this time include; Venture Capital for Africa (VC4A) Mentor Driven Capital Start-up Mentorship programme, The UNDP Youth Connekt, ITC Ye! Youth entrepreneurship programme as well as supporting the operationalisation of the World Bank IBP Platform.

Mr. Koyabe holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Econometric & Economics from the University of Johannesburg