CannaBiz Africa report..
Botswana will once again get a chance to showcase its bold vision to incorporate hemp into its economy when it hosts the Inaugural Hemp Business Summit in Gaborone on 5 April 2025.
27 March 2025 at 02:30:00
John Makoni, Africa Editor
Up to 300 delegates are expected to descend on the Ba Isago Convention Centre for the event “Unlocking the Hemp Industry” which is to help the Botswana government chart a regulatory framework for a prospective hemp industry.
The country, which legalized the export of medicinal and industrial cannabis last year, seeks to diversify its diamond-dependent economy, reduce its import inventory and create employment opportunities. The summit comes just three months after Botswana hosted a hemp conference (delegates pictured above) as part of the capital city’s partnership with Toronto in January.
Top of the agenda will be a discussion of necessary policy reforms to legalise hemp for sustainable development. “We’re not just diversifying our economy. We’re building industries that will sustain Botswana for generations to come,” President Duma Boko has emphasised.
Boko has made hemp and cannabis a priority of his economic agenda and has hinted that time is running out for Botswana as the country seeks to follow in the footsteps of regional players such as Lesotho, South Africa and Zimbabwe, who were the first to legalise cannabis for their economies.
To this end Botswana is drawing on the expertise of hemp pioneers and experts from all over the world, including North America and Africa. World-renowned regulatory specialist Joy Beckerman from California will be in attendance with hemp industry pioneer Lawrence Serbin also confirmed for the event.
Colorado-based Nutiva, a world leader in hemp food processing and imports, will be looking to meet hemp farmers and create synergies to strengthen its supply lines while successful farmers have been invited to mentor local and aspiring hemp farmers, according to Oratile Masala, IHBS CEO. Local banks and insurance companies will also present their product portfolios at the summit, said Masala.
The summit also presents Botswana with a golden opportunity to sell its cannabis programme to its citizens, given perceived resistance from conservative sectors of society who have expressed reservations that the country will be overrun with cannabis.
President Boko has moved to allay those fears and stressed that hemp will help reduce dependence on imported construction supplies by localising production of hempcrete, hemp bricks and hemp fibre while drawing the distinction between hemp and medicinal cannabis, whose cultivation he has promised will be stringently regulated.
While Botswana’s government has shown leadership in trying to incubate a hemp economy, that has not been the case for countries like Kenya and Uganda where industry is battling a lack of legislative reform and red tape from government.
This makes Joy Beckerman’s attendance propitious as she has dedicated herself “to advance common-sense regulation”. Her long history of non-profit leadership can benefit African governments who seem unable to navigate the regulatory phase to legalise hemp and generate much-needed revenue.
