Gaboroneruns on a handful of strong industries. If you’re job-hunting or weighing a move, here’s where the opportunities (and the big-name employers) are.
Top industries & employers
Diamonds & mining
Debswana, De Beers Global Sightholder Sales, Okavango Diamond Company, Lucara
De Beers moved its rough diamond sales operation from London to Gaborone in 2013, which put the global sorting and selling of rough stones in this city. The sector's 2024–25 downturn was severe enough to contract the national economy.
Government & public administration
Ministries, the Bank of Botswana, BURS, parastatals
Government is the largest employer in Gaborone by a wide margin, and the professional job market orbits it. This is a capital city economy in the fullest sense.
Financial services
Bank of Botswana, First National Bank Botswana, Absa Botswana, Botswana Stock Exchange, BPOPF
The Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund is one of the largest institutional investors in southern Africa, and the country's macroeconomic stability has made Gaborone a plausible regional treasury location.
Regional and continental institutions
SADC Secretariat, Southern African Customs Union liaison, development agencies
The Southern African Development Community Secretariat is headquartered in Gaborone, which gives the city a diplomatic and technical community out of proportion to its size.
Beef & agriculture
Botswana Meat Commission, commercial cattle ranching
Cattle are culturally and economically central in Botswana, and beef exports to the EU under long-standing preferential access have been a pillar of the rural economy for decades.
Tourism & conservation
Wilderness, &Beyond, Chobe Holdings, Botswana Tourism Organisation
The Okavango Delta and Chobe underpin a high-value, low-volume tourism model that is deliberately expensive. The head offices, licensing and logistics run through Gaborone and Maun.
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