According to Botswana’s 20 year national vision, by 2016 the nation of Botswana will have eradicated absolute
poverty and Batswana will be at the forefront of economic development. To realize this vision, the Government of
Botswana identified Manufacturing, Agriculture, Tourism and Financial Services as focal points for economic growth.
To that end, these sectors have taken centre stage in development policy to the near exclusion of other sectors of the
economy and in particular retailing. This paper addresses such marginalization of retailing and argues that retailing is an
important economic activity that has the potential to contribute significantly towards poverty eradication and citizen
economic empowerment. The paper concludes by making policy recommendations that could further enhance the
contribution of retailing towards poverty eradication and citizen economic empowerment.