Free business email in Botswana: set up name@yourbusiness.co.bw

Botswana is a small market where everyone checks everyone. A CIPA registration, a BURS tax number and a bank account are expected before a company will deal with you, and increasingly so is an email address on your own domain. Safari operators quoting foreign agents, suppliers bidding through PPRA tenders and consultants working with Debswana contractors all run into the same moment: the Gmail address on the quotation does not match the company name. Fixing that costs a yearly .co.bw fee in pula, and the mailboxes can be free.

Quick answer

Register yourbusiness.co.bw at a BOCRA-accredited registrar, with your CIPA details ready in case they ask. Create a free OquMail workspace with no card, add the domain, paste four DNS records at the registrar, click Verify and create your mailboxes. Add the mailbox to Outlook or your phone with the settings below.

Choosing your domain: .co.bw or .com

The .bw country domain is administered by BOCRA, the Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority, and sold through accredited registrars that bill in pula. The .co.bw ending is what Batswana companies use and what local procurement officers expect to see.

• .co.bw: the standard for Botswana companies; registrars may ask for CIPA registration details
• .org.bw: for NGOs and associations
• .com: fine for tourism operators and exporters whose customers are mostly abroad; pair it with the .co.bw if the name is available
• Avoid buying the domain inside a hosting bundle you do not need; the email can live elsewhere

Why a domain address matters in Botswana

Public procurement through PPRA, the mining supply chain around Jwaneng and Orapa, and the banks all deal with vendors by email and compare the address against the registered company name. In tourism the stakes are higher: an Okavango or Chobe lodge quoting a European or American agent is competing with operators in Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa, and an enquiry answered from a personal webmail address reads as a one-person operation even when it is not. A domain address also keeps bookings@ and accounts@ with the company when a staff member leaves.

Step by step: from domain to working inbox

1. Register yourbusiness.co.bw at a BOCRA-accredited registrar. Pay by card, EFT or Orange Money; have your CIPA certificate number ready.
2. Go to oqumail.com and create a free workspace. No card and no trial.
3. In the dashboard choose Add domain and type yourbusiness.co.bw. OquMail shows the four DNS records to add.
4. At the registrar open DNS Management for the domain and add the MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records exactly as shown.
5. Return to OquMail and click Verify. The live DNS check shows which record is still missing.
6. Create mailboxes: info@, bookings@ or sales@, accounts@ and one per person, up to 15 with 5 GB each.
7. Send a test from webmail, then add the account to Outlook or the phone mail app with the settings below.

The four DNS records OquMail needs

If the registrar pre-set an MX records (the settings that tell the internet where to deliver email for your domain) for its own mail service, delete it before adding mail.oqumail.com. Only one TXT records (short text lines in DNS used for email security) on the root may start with v=spf1.

• MX — host @, value mail.oqumail.com, priority 10
• SPF (TXT at @) — v=spf1 MX (Mail Exchanger — where incoming email is delivered) a:mail.oqumail.com ~all
• DKIM (TXT at your selector ._domainkey) — v=DKIM1; k=rsa; p=… (the exact key is shown in your OquMail dashboard)
• DMARC (TXT at _dmarc) — v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:dmarc@yourdomain.com

OquMail connection settings

• Incoming (IMAP): mail.oqumail.com, port 993, SSL/TLS
• Outgoing (SMTP): mail.oqumail.com, port 587, STARTTLS
• Username: your full email address (you@yourdomain.com)
• Password: the same password you use for OquMail webmail

What it costs

The domain is a yearly fee in pula. The email is free: OquMail's free plan has no card step and includes 15 mailboxes, 3 domains, 5 GB per mailbox, webmail, IMAP and SMTP, delivery logs and a send API. Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 bill per user per month in foreign currency, which is hard to justify for a lodge with four staff who only need mailboxes.

Pitfalls common in Botswana

• registrar (the company where you bought your domain, e.g. Namecheap or GoDaddy)-bundled mailboxes with no DKIM: quotations to European agents land in junk.
• Choosing SSL on port 587 in Outlook. It must be STARTTLS.
• Mascom, Orange and BTC mobile data block outbound port 25. Port 587 works everywhere.
• Keeping a Gmail address on the Google Business Profile and the safari booking platforms after the domain is live; agents copy the address from there.
• Skipping DMARC. Invoice-swap fraud against tourism operators and their agents is a known pattern; publish at least p=none.
• Running the lodge from one personal mailbox. Create bookings@ as a shared mailbox so the address survives staff changes.

Common questions

Can a sole trader register a .co.bw?

Yes. A business name registered with CIPA qualifies, and registrars accept it alongside company registrations. Register the domain in the name on the CIPA certificate.

Does it work with Outlook and my phone?

Yes. Add an IMAP account with the settings above in Outlook, Apple Mail or the Gmail app. Use your full address as the username and your webmail password.

What are the limits?

15 mailboxes, 3 domains, 5 GB per mailbox, no expiry. Growing past 15 adds mailboxes on request without a migration.

Want to see how your own domain is set up? Use the free SPF checker, DMARC checker and MX lookup: they run in your browser and store nothing.