Chris Garland has lived in beautiful Gaborone, Botswana, for nearly 40 years. As the Managing Director of Fidelity Indemnity (Pty) Limited, a diversified business consultancy that works with high-net-worth individuals and enterprises investing in the 16-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC), he’s among the top business experts in the region.
Chris and his team have been involved with some of the SADC’s biggest recent economic initiatives, including the development and oversight of the Botswana Investment & Trade Centre (BITC) and its predecessor organizations, several local energy developments, and a number of key regional infrastructure projects.
We spoke with Chris Garland recently about his work with Fidelity Indemnity (Pty) Limited, his long and storied career in economic development, and his thoughts on the future of one of the world’s fastest-growing regions.
What originally attracted you to Botswana?
I left the U.K. as a young man and completed my education in South Africa, where I worked for a time after graduating. Over time, I developed connections not only there but across southern Africa, and in my travels it became clear that Botswana was the “place to be” in the region. The culture, the people, the sense of opportunity: It’s a truly amazing place and, until recently, quite a well-kept secret outside the region.
Why did you launch Fidelity Indemnity (Pty) Limited and what were you doing previously?
During my time as principal with Capital Corporation, an independent financial planning firm I launched in conjunction with a larger South African financial firm, I realized that the market for high-touch wealth management and financial advisory services was at the time — this is the late 1980s and early 1990s — badly underdeveloped in the region outside of South Africa.
So I relocated to Gaborone and started Fidelity Indemnity (Pty) Limited. My first clients were ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families without local access to the financial planning and wealth management services they needed. Many early clients were British expats — Botswana had and still has a thriving expat community — so it was a natural fit.
What achievements are you most proud of during your career?
With all respect to those early clients, without whom I probably wouldn’t have lasted long enough to make a real difference, I’m most proud of the economic development work I’ve done alongside the governments of Botswana and other SADC nations. This work has directly improved the lives of hundreds of local workers and indirectly benefited many thousands more through improved infrastructure and economic opportunities.
If you could do one thing over again, what would it be?
I’ve made a number of business mistakes over the years, as is the case for any lifelong entrepreneur who’s being honest. Without going into the details, one in particular is cause for lingering regret. I simply did not understand the type of business I was getting into and would certainly not have proceeded had I fully understood the risks.
But I’m still here. I learned from the mistake and never repeated it. This is the most important lesson I took from the experience and something I impart to younger entrepreneurs all the time.
What’s next for Botswana?
As I’ve said elsewhere, I believe Botswana is on the cusp of an economic breakthrough.
The country has long been known as “Africa’s outlier” thanks to stable governance, strong rule of law, and business-friendly trade and development policies. But any fair observer would agree that its economy, though strong, is not fully diversified. Without such diversification, Botswana risks falling into the “resource trap” that holds back many other African nations.
I’m not too worried about this happening. Botswana’s political leaders and business community both understand the stakes and believe as I do that the country must invest all the way up the value chain to remain competitive in a changing world, while also further developing the nascent business services sector I’m privileged to be part of.
In fact, I’ll wager that the next five to ten years will be the most exciting period in Botswana’s modern history.
What’s next for you?
First, I look forward to continuing to serve new and existing clients while keeping a close eye on investment and development opportunities across the SADC region. I’m also blessed with a loving family that I adore spending time with. And I’m planning to maintain my involvement with two charities close to my heart, the South African Guide-Dogs Association and the Equinox Trust. It’s wonderful at this stage of my life to be in a position to give back to causes close to my heart.
