Investor Mail

16/09/2025

A Leaner Dividend, A Stronger BIHL

Botswana Insurance Holdings Limited (BIHL) is paying a smaller mid-year dividend — 53 thebe per share, the lowest in 4 years.

Why? Money is tight in the economy. Businesses and individuals are struggling, and some are have been delaying insurance payments.

CEO Catherine Lesetedi said some of the company’s clients told them they will pay premiums late.

It’s not a big crisis yet. But another problem is medicine shortages. If people with chronic conditions can’t get treatment, the risk of higher claims rises, and that could eat into profits.

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🔗 Links to articles are in the comments.

12/09/2025

Take note! Compounding!

03/09/2025

Investor Mail | Letshego in Motion | Financial Services Stock


Letshego’s results for the first half of 2025 are more than just numbers. They show how the company is working to protect and grow the money of its investors.

👉 The tax bill is still going up, but it now takes a smaller part of the profit.

👉 This means more money is left for shareholders.

👉 Even though no dividend was declared, the company has strong cash flow. This gives hope that dividends will still come in the future.

👉 Letshego operates across 11 African countries. Our report shows where most of the money is coming from. Each country adds something to the business.

👉 With exposure to different currencies, the recent changes to the P**a makes costs rise, but it can also bring new opportunities to make money if handled well.

All these things together show a company facing challenges, but still focused on giving value to its investors.

Analysts at Imara Capital said investors should HOLD the stock.

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Pictured: Gwen Muteiwa, Letshego CFO. Cred: Weekend Post Newpaper

Links on comments section.

03/09/2025

Somewhere in South Africa 🇿🇦…

Please take note of our interest rates!!!

Fixed interest rates for 1 – 30 September 2025 are as follows:
2 Years: 8.00%
3 Years: 8:25%
5 Years: 9.00%

Inflation-Linked Bond Interest Rates applicable for 01 June – 30 November 2025 are:
3 years: 5.50%
5 years: 5.25%
10 years: 5.75%

Top-up Bond Interest Rates applicable from 1 June - 30 September 2025 are:
3 years: 8.75%

Visit our website to find out more about our interest rates.
https://secure.rsaretailbonds.gov.za

25/08/2025

BSE/GCC wants to turn Gaborone into an Investment

Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) and Gaborone City Council (GCC) want to let ordinary Batswana buy into the city’s future through bonds.

The two organizations recently signed an agreement, which will see Botswana’s first municipal bond.

What is a Municipal Bond?

✅ A municipal bond is a way for GCC to borrow money from the market, including from ordinary people.

If you buy a bond:

✅You give money to the city for some years.
✅The city pays you extra money called interest.
✅At the end, you get back the money you gave.

👉 You become part-owner of the city’s projects, roads, schools, water pipes, and even solar panels.

“As we think about this municipal bond, at the center of it is the participation of the retail investor in helping transform the economic landscape of our municipalities," BSE CEO Aupa Monyatsi said during the signing ceremony.

“So it is important that we not only look at it as a way of transforming the landscape but creating and democratizing wealth for Batswana to participate in this journey.”

GCC wants to use the money to:

✅Improve public services.
✅Upgrade city facilities.

Examples How Retail Investors Were Included Around the World

Cambridge, USA

In 2017, minimum investment was $1,000 for Cambridge mini-bonds.

Money was used for:

✅Fixing school roofs.
✅Putting solar panels on the library.
✅Improving roads.

The bonds sold out quickly and even won an award.

Madison, USA

✅Madison sold “community bonds” in 2018.
✅First chance went to Madison people, before large investors like institutional investors.

Photo: BSE

24/08/2025

BTC Finds a Way to Make Money for Shareholders in Its Own Yard

If you own shares, the Data Protection Act should be good news because BTC is using it to help protect your income in a tough market.

👉Why Build a Data Centre in The First Place?

BTC built its data centre mainly for its own use.

“At the time, we said the data centre was purely for BTC utilization,” explained BTC's Boitumelo Paya when speaking to investors and analysts.

But the company saw a bigger chance: let other businesses use it.

“We are now saying we are monetizing it. And we’ve seen the business double.”

This means BTC is now getting paid by other companies to store their data, instead of just using the centre for itself.

👉 New Law Changes the Game

Botswana’s Data Protection Act says any data about people in Botswana must stay in Botswana. This means even big foreign companies need a place in Botswana to keep their data. BTC’s data centre was ready just in time.

“The Data Protection Act came in for us ready, because we are helping with compliance with data localization,” Paya said.

Pic: Boitumelo Paya (cred: Botswana Telecommunications Corporation - BTC)

23/08/2025

Work to Learn (career). Earn to Pay Yourself first (invest, build wealth). Mind your own business (entrepreneurship). 🫡

23/08/2025

BSE Is Restocking Its Shelf. So You Can Invest More, for Less

The exchange is now expanding its menu, adding more choices and restocking its shelves to give ordinary Batswana more ways to grow their money through international companies.

The exchange is reviewing applications to list three new Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs), a type of investment that makes it easier and cheaper for ordinary people to invest in a variety of companies at once.

These ETFs are a bit like a ready-made meal for investors. Instead of buying individual ingredients (shares), you buy the whole dish, a bundle of companies, served in one package, and traded like a normal stock.

You will be buying these ETFs just like you would buy any other share on the BSE.

One of them tracks the top 500 companies in America, known as the S&P 500.

These include tech giants like:

✅Alphabet (Google)
✅Amazon
✅Apple
✅Microsoft
✅NVIDIA
✅Meta (Facebook)
✅Tesla
✅Coinbase

📷 : BSE (Aupa Monyatsi, CEO)

21/08/2025

ETFs: Platinum Shines Brighter Than Gold on the BSE

✅NewPlat ETF: Up 42% 📈
✅NewGold ETF: Up 37% so far this year 📈

👉 That means platinum gave investors bigger gains than gold in the first 7 months of 2025. ETFs track the price of physical platinum and gold.

Send a message to learn more

20/08/2025

Fund Managers Are Helping Keep Your BSE Shares Up

In Botswana, where financial literacy is low, retail investors are like a herd of cattle.

The market is big, fast, and sometimes confusing. But not all cattle know the way, as long as there are shepherds: fund managers help figure out the right price for shares and ordinary Batswana who are taking part in the stock market aren’t being left out in wealth building.

Smart large investors have a big impact on price movements in Botswana as they dominate trading activity. Asset managers are sitting on a chunk of money following the repatriation of funds from offshore.

With increased demand for local shares and investments, trading volumes have grown, and prices on the BSE have been moving up, with all stocks being traded.
According to the BSE:

✅ In total, shares worth P4.73 billion were traded in the first half of 2025. Most of this came from local companies (fund managers), making up almost 98%.

✅Local people (individuals like me and you) only made up 1.8% of this, showing that few ordinary Batswana are trading shares.

BSE said:

✅Pension fund changes: New rules in 2023 have made pension funds change how they invest money. They are now adjusting where their money is placed locally, with more money coming into Botswana.

✅Big investors reshuffle: Asset managers are selling some shares to balance their investments and follow set rules and risks.

✅More people joining in: Even ordinary people are starting to invest more, helped by low inflation, which means they can earn better real returns.

20/08/2025

How Will Your Retail Shares Survive the Price Increases❔

When prices start going up 🔼 , especially in the second half of the year, many investors worry about how this will affect companies they own shares in.

Usually, companies that sell everyday items, like food 🍛and drinks 🫙, have an advantage here. These are called fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies. They sell items that are a part of our daily lives. So they sell every day.

In Botswana, examples include·

➡️Sefalana Holdings and
➡️ Enterprise and
➡️CA Sales

Because of Botswana’s 🇧🇼low base in production, these companies import their stock or raw materials from outside, South Africa 🇿🇦 precisely. This comes at a cost to them, and they often have to pass this cost to customers.

Otherwise, they would have to either raise their costs of operation and accept smaller profit margins, which would worry you as an investor.

Because of the recent changes made to Botswana's currency, it now costs more money 📈 to pay for goods from outside. Since FMCG companies import their stock or raw materials, their costs go up.

For instance, Choppies CEO Ramachandran Ottapathu publicly said the company lost about P48 million overnight because of these currency changes.

Sefalana’s Finance Director, Mohamed Osman said when they "had to settle creditors, that did have an extra P15 to P20 million cost of settling those creditors".

19/08/2025

It’s earnings season and when a company you own makes money, it passes some to you after paying expenses!