BG reporter
At 33 years, young Guido Giachetti was thrown into the deep end. He was made head of the then newly listed company trading under the name Real-Estate Development Company in 1996. For him, that was a chance to show his mettle and prove to other seasoned executives that age is just a number.
For youngsters his age, being a Chief Executive in a listed company, was just a far-fetched dream. Fourteen years down the line Giachetti has taken the company to great heights and has since been made Executive Chairman of the company, which is now RDC Properties Limited.
When we meet for an interview, the well-travelled Giachetti had just arrived from Johannesburg from a soccer match in the ongoing 2010 World Cup. He says he was not happy that his national team Italy did not perform according to expectations. We are at the company’s head office. At 47 years he has fallen in love with properties. His office shelves are full of books that have themes on property business. “This is the collection that I have organised over the years,” he says with a smile.
Giachetti explains that his company basically develops and invests in modern commercial and industrial buildings in prominent locations in Botswana and Madagascar. The company made history at the local bourse- Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE)- by becoming the first company to introduce a new capital structure a variable stocks unit; returns to linked unit holders are paid under form of dividends and interest. “The structure is good especially for pension funds that do not pay tax in the funds they hold, this enables them to hold shares of the company as close as possible to owning the property portfolio directly,” he explains.

The new structures, for Botswana, have become a hit and other property companies listed at the exchange have followed suit. “This does not mean our shareholders are pension funds only as we have a diversified investors base that include retailers, corporate and foreign investors,” he says as he sips on a cup of Five Roses. Giachetti says over the years their company has concentrated on properties, catering mainly for commercial and retail but are now diversifying to include hospitality.
Asked how the company’s performance over the years in the Botswana market has been Giachetti has nothing much to complain about. “The industry here is one which is characterised by booms and bursts,” he says, adding they were able to beat the market and the recession by operating in prime areas such as Gaborone, Jwaneng and Chobe. “I would confidently say the recession has not affected us in bad way as we have long term leases.”
Giachetti says they have seen more activities in their properties especially in the capital city. Among properties, which are under the arm of RDC Limited, are Standard House, Mebala House, and Tholo Center all in Gaborone with a cumulative value of well over P366 million.
The RDC man is mostly concerned about the future. “The industry would experience some slowdown in the next two years as government continues to reduce development budget,” he says. The government has been adviced to cut its development budget if it wants to have a strong balance sheet going forward.
The past financial year has been very satisfactory for the company, says Giachetti. “Bank of Botswana (BoB) reduced interest rates and this worked to our advantage,” he says. Currently BoB has retained lending rate at 10%. For the 2009 financial year, portfolio and investment value for the property company rose by 59% to stand at P366 million (2008: P230 million). Profit before tax and linked units debentures grew up by a modest 3,4% to P29, 17 million (2008: P28. 20 million).
Lately, the company opened the Isalo Rock Lodge in politically unstable Madagascar on 1st June 2010. The Rock is a four-star Lodge located inside Isalo National Park, which Giachetti says would start contributing to the company’s revenue in 2011. This is in addition to Tana Water front. The two offshore investments have a value of over P28 million. In order to effectively manage their offshore investments they decided to form RDC Properties International Limited (RDCPI), which manages both the newly opened Isalo Rock Lodge and Tana Shopping Mall. The company is currently developing the multimillion Pula Masa Centre, in which they would spend about P250 million to develop. Giachetti says it is exciting to develop the project with local partners Keboife Holdings, Lavica and Shakawe. “We want Masa to be the main centre of attraction in the city,” he adds. Once opened the centre would change the city’s lifestyle and landscape forever. Giachetti reveals to Botswana Guardian that all the tenants who would be renting the centre are expected to employ 2300 people, the majority of which shall be Batswana.
The company is currently competing with various property companies both listed and unlisted. “We compete on the basis of our portfolio,” says the married father of two. Gaborone is currently experiencing shortage of land and as a company in real estate they are concerned. “Land is not a problem to us as we target only on prime areas,” he says. Going forward they would capitalise on the ever-growing hospitality sector and goodwill created by Masa Centre. Giachetti is a civil Engineer by profession armed with a master’s degree in business management. Among his board members at RDC limited are Ndaba Gaolathe, Lesang Magang, Gobe Matenge and Jenny Stewards.