In 2016/17 there was an economic census carried out in Botswana. According to international standards, it is recommended that economic census should be undertaken at regular intervals of five years. Botswana like other countries, concurs that the implementation of the economic census should be aligned to international recommendations.
Economic Census (EC) is defined as a complete count of all entrepreneurial units of the country or in a well delimited part of the country, which are involved in the production and/ or distribution of goods and/or services not for the sole purpose of own consumption. The country can use its prerogative on how to conduct a census. The 2016/17 Census of Enterprises and Establishments (CEE) or Economic Census (EC) is the second census to be conducted in Botswana. The first was carried out in 2006/07.
In order to enhance the country’s progress, it is imperative for the government to have statistical information to measure and monitor the performance of the development policies and programmes. On the basis of the above, Statistics Botswana is mandated to provide the government, the public and other stakeholders with statistical information that will guide economic development.
The 2016 Census of Enterprise and Establishment (CEE) phase 1 listed 18,552 Establishments. An enterprise is an institutional unit in its capacity as a producer of goods and services. An enterprise is an economic transactor or entity with autonomy in respect of financial and investment decision-making, as well as authority and responsibility for allocating resources for the production of goods and services. It may be engaged in one or more productive activities.
Establishment is defined as an enterprise or part of an enterprise that is situated in a single location and in which only a single (non-ancillary) productive activity is carried out. The CEE phase 1 collected basic data from establishments such as name, address, legal status, business type, number of employees and financial year. The main purpose of CEE 1 was to collect information to be used for updating the Statistical Business Register.
The Statistical Business Register is used as a sampling frame for all economic surveys. Economic census covered all cities and towns, and urban villages with a population of 5,000 and more. All enumeration areas in the aforementioned areas which were engaged in any kind of economic activity during the census period have been enumerated, with the exception of hawkers, street vendors and other small businesses without permanent structure.
The Findings and Analysis of the Census
A total of 18,676 businesses were enumerated, 81.9 percent answered all questions in the questionnaire, 17.4 percent answered some of the questions, 0.3 percent were refusals and another 0.3 percent were found to be dormant.
Geographical Distribution: The Census revealed that 9,289 or 50.1 percent of establishments were found in cities & towns.
Gaborone constituted the most, about 66.0 percent of the establishments found in cities & towns followed by Francistown with 18.7 percent. Sowa Town was the least with 0.3 percent. Other districts constituted 49.9 percent of the total establishments.
At district level, Central District was the major contributor at 33.3 percent, followed by Kweneng District at 20.5 percent and Ngamiland District came third at 14.3 percent.
Business Type: Most establishments, 73.0 percent reported as single units. A single unit is an independent business that does not have branches or is not associated with any other business.
Enterprises with branches came second at 19 percent, followed by those reported as head office at 6.0 percent while subsidiaries came last at 1.0 percent.
Legal Status: Most of the establishments, about 59.6 percent indicated they were Private Limited Companies.
Private Limited Company is a privately-owned business entity, in which owner liability is limited to their shares, the business is limited to having 50 or fewer shareholders, and shares are prohibited from being publicly traded.
This was followed by Sole Proprietor at 26.9 percent, which are companies where an individual holds 100 percent shares and controls all the business operations.
Industry: This section looks at establishments by industry. The main activity question was used to classify establishments to relevant industries. The largest industry in Botswana in terms of the number of establishments was Wholesale and Retail Trade.
The census reported a total of 6,787 establishments within this industry, representing 36.6 percent of the total establishments. This was followed by Other Service Activities with 1,994 establishments (10.7 percent), Accommodation and Food Services came third with 1,819 establishments (9.8 percent). Manufacturing came fourth with 1,690 establishments (9.1percent).
The largest sub-industry in the manufacturing in terms of the number of establishments was Manufacture of Food products at 21.8 percent. Included in this group are activities such as Processing and Preserving of Meat, Manufacture of Bakery Products, Manufacture of Dairy Products, etc.
Other Service Activities include Activities of Membership Organisations (e.g. religious, political organisations, etc.), Repair of Computers and Personal and Household Goods and Other Personal Service Activities (hairdressing, funeral activities, dry cleaning, etc.)
Turnover: Turnover question was the least answered question by establishments, about 54.6 percent reported their annual turnover.
It is important to note, however, that 21.7% were in the bracket of annual turnover of P10,001 to P100,000, 25.8% were in that of P100,001 to P500,000, and 36.7% were above turning over above P1,000,000.
Employment: About 92 percent of establishments reported 29 or less employees, of which 50.5 percent had four or less employees.
The full report is available from the Botswana Statistical Office website.
