Botswana’s new president unveiled his cabinet at the start of April and named a 30-year-old woman as his minister of investment, trade and industry. Bogolo Kenewendo is said to be Botswana’s youngest ever government minister and boasts an impressive CV, having taken part in Barack Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative and obtained a master’s degree in economics. Social media users welcomed her appointment, heralding it as an example of the potential of young Africans on a continent with a number of older, veteran leaders. Global Focus spoke to Kenewendo about her new government portfolio and what has inspired her in achieving so much in such a short time… How does it feel to be appointed a government minister at 30 years old? I am honoured, I am ecstatic and humbled by the trust that his Excellency President Masisi has bestowed upon me. Also truly honoured by the support and the congratulations and best wishes that I have received from the entire public in Botswana and across the globe. What are your main priorities as the new minister of investment, trade and industry? Really, my job is to support the president’s priorities. He outlined in his inauguration speech that he is looking to create jobs, he is looking to grow, to have private sector development. We are looking at inclusive growth, this is something that my ministry will be working really hard at. Also in promoting investor attraction because over the years we’ve had a lot of competition from other countries. So we’ll be working on our Doing Business agenda and the reforms agenda as well, and we will be looking at more cooperation with the private sector to ensure that there is a conducive environment for private sector growth. Then looking at the development of local industry to ensure that Motswana are also quite active in the Botswana economy. Last but really not least, to ensure that Botswana continues to be that beacon of growth and hope on the African continent. There’s been a lot said about the need to diversify Botswana’s economy away from the diamond trade. How do you think that can be done? Diversification indeed has been a word that’s been on the tip of the tongue for many years. The challenge has been that the government has been trying to be at the forefront of diversifying the economy. I believe that it is our partners, the private sector, that should be at the forefront of diversifying the economy while we ensure that we are playing our role of facilitating business and not being in the business of doing business. We need to ensure that it’s not only a doing business environment where we talk about regulations that are conducive, but also that there is a good environment for investments. That we are able to help unlock those opportunities that exist in the domestic capital markets, but also in the international markets as well. The great challenge – and one thing that I should note – is that we’re no longer looking at diversifying away from minerals or away from diamonds. This is diversifying in and out of minerals. So we want to develop the value chain in diamonds, we want to talk about beneficiation. That applies to several other minerals that we have and beyond that into more industry and service-related industries. You spent time working in the private sector as a consultant. Why did you decide to go into government? I used to be quite frustrated in the private sector thinking that things were not moving from where we stood. When the opportunity came for me to join government, I thought this is an opportunity I should grab and work on the other side of the fence. To see if I can’t help to bring the private sector closer and deal with some of the issues that I used to advocate for. I used to be quite a strong private sector development advocate when I worked at Econsult Botswana and those are some of the issues