Kasane – The Vice President and Minister of Finance, Mr. Ndaba Gaolathe, delivered the keynote address at the 31st World Savings and Retail Banking Institute (WSBI) African Regional Conference held in Kasane on 2 September 2025.
Founded in 1924, WSBI represents a century-long tradition of savings and retail banking. In his remarks, the Vice President reflected on its legacy, stating: “The history of WSBI has shown time and again that savings banks can be true agents of human dignity. As WSBI steps boldly into its second century, Africa is not just a participant but stands poised at the vanguard. According to the WSBI Centenary Report, the Institute’s 6,400 member banks today serve 1.7 billion people worldwide — a future in which Africa’s voice, vision, and vitality are indispensable.
Mr. Gaolathe commended the Botswana Savings Bank (BSB) for hosting the conference and for embodying the spirit of WSBI. He praised BSB’s role in extending banking services to the unbanked, fostering a culture of savings, advancing financial literacy, and aligning innovation with social purpose. Highlighting Africa’s progress, he noted that financial inclusion remains “unfinished business.” While the World Bank’s Global Findex 2025 shows that 79% of adults worldwide now own an account, only 55% of adults in Sub-Saharan Africa do. However, the continent leads globally in mobile money adoption — with 40% of adults in Sub-Saharan Africa holding a mobile money account by 2024. From Kenya’s M-Pesa, which has transformed household resilience, to the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), enabling cross-border trade in African currencies, Africa is redefining financial access.
The Vice President further stressed the importance of aligning accessibility with sustainability. “In Botswana, our diamond-led growth model has served us well, but it cannot deliver our high-income aspirations. That is why we are decisively pursuing reforms under the Botswana Economic Transformation Programme (BETP) to build a productive, inclusive, technology-driven, and globally competitive economy beyond diamonds.”
He explained that the BETP, developed with the internationally recognised PEMANDU Big Fast Results (BFR) methodology, is designed to translate national ambitions into actionable outcomes. Unlike traditional frameworks that focus on policy design, BFR is delivery-oriented, embedding accountability, measurable milestones, and timely results. “For too long, our challenge has not been ambition, but execution. The BETP, through the BFR, represents our commitment to closing this gap — to prepare not just our people for the future, but also the future for our people.”
By adopting BFR, Botswana is making a decisive shift from being known for sound policy to being recognised for effective execution. This, the Vice President said, is how the country will restore confidence among citizens, investors, and partners — showing that Botswana not only dreams boldly but also delivers consistently. He noted that this aligns with WSBI’s century-old ethos of linking trust, accountability, and delivery to broaden financial access and stability.
In conclusion, the Vice President said he was deeply encouraged by the richness of the conference deliberations. Under the leadership of the Botswana Savings Bank and WSBI, the discussions spanned digital innovation, MSME financing, women and youth entrepreneurship, green and sustainable finance, rural outreach, and risk management in the digital era. “Let Kasane be remembered as the place where Africa claimed its role as a torchbearer of WSBI’s second century,” he declared.