The Property and Infrastructure Forum which came in the first quarter of 2022 brought a loud theme of “Building Botswana’s New Future” and the media received not much unfamiliar words like proptech and there was also “Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)” in the mix.

The theme was discussed in the lines of “adoption of new technologies across the local property ecosystem, tech integration for sustainable development and operations, policy, and regulations, and the impact on balance sheets and company budgets.” A panel putting together the best minds in the property sector tried to find out opportunities and challenges and how Botswana will adapt to disruptions and new order of doing things.

Quarter 3 of 2021, the real wake from Covid-19 was seen in the property market as tech words mentioned above were not only enacted in the local property market lexicology, but was now seen in figures and buildings. A champion in technology -meets-real estate, local based Vantage Properties, in July 2021 launched product, gosmartvalue.com, announced a P480,000 financing which was facilitated by Angel Network Botswana.

According to Vantage Properties founder, Sethebe Manake, gosmartvalue.com specializes in real estate data analytics and automated property valuations.  Manake further stated that this product provides people the option of having their property instantly valued or having a qualified and registered valuer perform a full valuation.

It was rated Green because of its of three levels of A-grade office space and supporting facilities, and two basement parking levels, set among more open-air parking and water wise landscaped gardens.  For a building to get a Green Rating there should be aspect of climate friendly; water, materials/waste, indoor environment quality, land use, energy, ecology, transport and emissions.

Back to the topic of ‘The Role of ESG and Proptech within the Botswana Context’, speakers at the Property Forum believe technology is still premature in the local real estate.

One speaker on the above topic, account director at Cushman & Wakefield I Broll Patrick Katabua, said the growth of proptech is too slow. He said this before responding to the lamentation that technology is taking away jobs, saying new technology can only augment and compliment the way of doing something. He believes the workshop should be technologically equipped so that the job market does not vomit them when technology arises.

There was an issue of regulation which seemed to the speaker as the main worry of policy makers. But legislation and over regulation of new technology things only delays progress to move into new dimensions of doing things, according to the speakers of above topics. Bureaucracy is sometimes seen as an impediment as policy makers would be trying hard to regulate what is less known or not understood.

“Technology or proptech is not even a zygote in maturity; it is too small, as it is still coming to its growth. It cannot be regulated yet at this stage. There should not be rush to regulating as that sometimes stifle growth,” said one of the speakers and one renowned pioneer in proptech, Manake.

Manake however acknowledged the need for regulation to protect the public. She said all regulatory bodies and government are needed to protect the public from exposure to bad practices.