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APRIL/MAY 2017 | ISSUE <strong>13</strong> | www.inbusiness.co.bw<br />

APRIL/MAY 2017 | ISSUE <strong>13</strong> Inspiring the Entreprenuer Botswana InBusiness Magazine<br />

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MODIKWA<br />

It’s Teamwork All<br />

The Way- Pg16<br />

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MABU: She takes them from callow to confident to Broadway- Pg20


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www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017


B SE<br />

STOCK<br />

BOTSWANA<br />

EXCHANGE<br />

At Botswana Stock Exchange, our mission is to<br />

“To drive sustainable economic growth by<br />

providing a gateway for raising capital and<br />

accessing investment opportunities.”<br />

Our Vision<br />

“To be a world-class securities exchange<br />

delivering innovative products and services.”<br />

Our Core Values<br />

Innovation • Integrity • Sustainability • Efficiency •<br />

Commercial Focus • Teamwork<br />

Botswana Stock Exchange • @TheOfficialBSE • Botswana Stock Exchange<br />

EXCHANGE HOUSE • Office Block 6 • Plot 64511, Fairgrounds • Private Bag 00417 • Gaborone Botswana<br />

Telephone: +267 367 4400 , Fax: +267 318 0175 • www.bse.co.bw<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017 3


CONTENTS<br />

IN THIS ISSUE<br />

05 | EDITORIAL COMMENT<br />

• Trump is singularly outrageous<br />

16<br />

06 | NEWS<br />

• Towards An Inclusive Approach To Climate Change<br />

• Kenewendo Listed Among Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD)<br />

- 2017 Global List<br />

• ‘EmPowered’ Motswana just Misses Prestigious African Award<br />

• The Woman of the Moment: Rose Kaggwa<br />

10 | INTERNATIONAL NEWS<br />

• Zimbabwe Schools Accept Goats for Tuition Fees<br />

• Djibouti Opens Most Advanced Port In Africa<br />

14 | THE GLOBAL COLUMN<br />

• ‘Botswana and Kenya are in a Good Place’<br />

16 | COVER STORY<br />

• THEBE MODIKWA: It’s Teamwork All The Way<br />

• racheril Matthew<br />

20 | EXECUTIVE PROFILES<br />

• Labour ‘Suffragette’ Calls for Equal Pay<br />

24 | IN CAREER<br />

• Stanbic Stalwarts Rewarded<br />

16 20<br />

26 | ENGAGE WOMEN<br />

• Coco Chanel Features Big in WIBA Programme<br />

28 | YOUTH IN BUSINESS<br />

• Rosewell Chauffeurs: When Etiquette is of the Essence<br />

30 | ENTREPRISE<br />

• Of Sacred Cows and Holy Men: the Story of PK Leathergoods<br />

32 | TOURISM<br />

• Room50Two: an Astral Experience on Terra Firma<br />

• Stop or Gently Pass -This is the World Tourism Destination No. 1<br />

• SKL: From Germany with Tourists<br />

38 32<br />

38 | LIFESTYLE<br />

• FOOD<br />

• SHOWBIZ<br />

• FASHION<br />

44 | MOTORING<br />

• The Audi RS6 Avant:<br />

46 | SPORTS<br />

• An Atlantic Mind Aided By A Pacific Outlook<br />

50 | COMMUNITY<br />

• MABU: She Takes Them from Callow to Confident to Broadway<br />

52 | EVENT<br />

• BTO Events IN PICTURES<br />

DISCLAIMER:Many contributing writers to inBusiness are experts from various fields serving and providing advice to our readers in their individual capacities.<br />

That advice is the expert’s own and he/she is solely responsible for the information and opinions that he/she expresses. These experts may have interests in particular<br />

products, services or business entities that may influence the advice that they give. However, inBusiness is not responsible for any loss or damage, including - but not<br />

limited to - claims for defamation, error, loss of data or interruption in its availability arising from use of such advice.<br />

4<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017


APRIL/MAY 2017<br />

EDITORIAL<br />

EDITOR<br />

Douglas B. Tsiako<br />

NEWS EDITOR<br />

Tuduetso Tebape<br />

WRITERS<br />

Malebogo Ratladi<br />

Raymond Moremi<br />

Ononofile Lonkokile<br />

MARKETING & ADVERTISING<br />

Bone Letlole<br />

Loatile Leteane<br />

Disoso J. Pheto<br />

Mbakisano Tjiyapo<br />

DESIGN & LAYOUT<br />

Nkagisang T. Molefhe<br />

PHOTOGRAPHY<br />

Baagedi Setlhora<br />

CONTRIBUTORS<br />

Natasha Selato<br />

CONTACTS<br />

Plot 22148, Unit 12A, Gaborone West<br />

Industrial, P O Box AD9ACJ, Gaborone,<br />

T +267 3191 401 F +267 3191 400<br />

info@inbusinessbw.com<br />

inbusinessbw.com<br />

Keep in touch with InBusiness<br />

Scan QR Code Below to download<br />

our contacts to your mobile phone<br />

Trump is singularly<br />

outrageous<br />

EDITORIAL<br />

Botswana is a signatory to the Paris Agreement, which is an agreement within<br />

the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change dealing with<br />

greenhouse gas emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance starting in the<br />

Year 2020. The language of the agreement was negotiated by representatives<br />

of 196 parties and adopted by consensus in Paris on 12 December 2015.<br />

Botswana being a signatory means parting ways with the United States whose<br />

president Donald Trump has turned his back on a matter that defines responsibility<br />

more than any other in the 21st Century, climate change. The only other countries<br />

that are at variance with the world in the most commanding global issue of our times<br />

are Syria and Nicaragua. Climate change deniers like Trump have parodied the facts<br />

by dismissing global warming as a hoax, but science is pointing out the reality.<br />

Global warming or climate change occurs when carbon dioxide (CO2) and other<br />

air pollutants and greenhouse gasses collect in the atmosphere and absorb sunlight<br />

and solar radiation that have bounced off the earth’s surface. Normally, this radiation<br />

would escape into space—but these pollutants, which can last for years to centuries<br />

in the atmosphere, trap the heat and cause the planet to get hotter. This is as the<br />

greenhouse effect that we at inBusiness wrote about in our February 2017 edition.<br />

Trump’s behaviour compels us to return to the subject.<br />

Global warming is a reality because the entire globe is progressively coming<br />

under the grip of extreme weather. For southern Africa, this means prolonged spells<br />

of drought that are rudely interrupted by outbursts of destructive winds, gales,<br />

hailstorms, thunderstorms and rainstorms. This calls for a constant eye on disaster<br />

management with reliable early warning systems, as well as preparedness and swift<br />

responses.<br />

But the ‘Apocalypse’ goes beyond the region because Botswana is a part of One<br />

World. Hence we make it our responsibility at inBusiness to drive the point home that<br />

no matter how different the peoples of Planet Earth may seem on the surface, we are<br />

one human race with a common destiny in disaster or redemption. Our daily conduct<br />

is what is determining which way the pendulum will swing.<br />

We may be reeling from a deluge last March the scale of which was unprecedented<br />

at least for as generation. However, for our country, nothing illustrates global<br />

warming better than the El Nino phenomenon that raises sea temperatures in the<br />

distant Pacific Ocean and withholds precipitation in the sky above us even when the<br />

vault of heaven is universally laden with a thick overcast.<br />

Hence do we consider it our duty at inBusiness to teach without preaching and lead<br />

without let a discourse on how cfos will have an increasingly deleterious effect on lives<br />

across species if we do not stop burning things haphazardly, especially fossil fuels, and<br />

disposing of things carelessly.<br />

It is precisely because we do not take heed of warnings from the Green Agenda that<br />

the state of the world is already quite deplorable, with 92% of the human population<br />

breathing polluted air, 300 million of which are children, while bottletops are being<br />

found inside the bodies of dead fish and birds as plastic bags strangle the bowels of<br />

beef cattle.<br />

But the Green Agenda would be meaningless if it did not address the marginalised<br />

constituencies of Women, Children and the Youth. We call attention to it here. An<br />

unspeakable crime was recently perpetrated at Gaborone Station when a horde of<br />

men attacked a young woman who was also stripped naked apparently as an object<br />

lesson for daring to step abroad in the most minimal brevity of dress.<br />

This type of behaviour is hard to understand because all cultures and religions<br />

teach that the primary responsibility of men and boys is to protect and defend women<br />

and children. The behaviour is difficult to explain even in terms of mass hysteria<br />

because the young woman cannot be said to have presented a threat to the men who<br />

hounded and tormented her.<br />

And it flies in the face of credulity that the young woman – who was admittedly<br />

scantily dressed – should have to be taught a lesson in modesty of dress by rendering<br />

her stark-naked. This type of behaviour, which is vicious in every sense, is a return to<br />

the 1980s when it was the order of the day at Gaborone Station. If smacks of snooty<br />

puritanism but is infact a form of barbarism that has no place in any society. Even<br />

so, at the risk of sounding like Trump, it has to be said that there was a link between<br />

the unacceptable behavior of those men and the brevity of the young woman’s dress.<br />

Therefore, without being sanctimonious, we appeal to our womenfolk not to give<br />

anyone any excuse to turn on them. Afterall, modesty is not travesty.<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017 5


NEWS<br />

Kenewendo Listed Among Most<br />

Influential People of African<br />

Descent (MIPAD) - 2017 Global List<br />

Words: Raymond Moremi<br />

Botswana youngest Member of<br />

Parliament, economist Bogolo<br />

Kenewendo, is under a major<br />

spotlight after making the United<br />

Nations Top 100 list of Most<br />

Influential People of African Descent<br />

(MIPAD) for 2017.<br />

Established in recognition of the<br />

International Decade for People of African<br />

Descent as proclaimed by the United<br />

Nations’ General Assembly, MIPAD<br />

identifies 200 high achievers of African<br />

descent under the age of 40, 100 inside<br />

Africa and 100 in the African Diaspora.<br />

MIPAD’s list comprises important<br />

influencers and leaders from around the<br />

world and across four distinct categories:<br />

Politics & Governance, Business &<br />

Entrepreneurship, Media & Culture, and<br />

Religion & Humanitarian.<br />

The ever-ebullient Kenewendo is featured<br />

under the Politics & Governance category<br />

alongside 19 other movers and shakers,<br />

including the National Spokesperson for<br />

South Africa’s Economic Freedom Fighters<br />

Towards An Inclusive Approach To Climate Change<br />

Key pillars that were of main focus at the 2016 United Nations Climate Change Conference<br />

(UNCCC) in Marrakech, Morocco last November (7th and 8th) entailed an important<br />

transitional moment from negotiations to implementations.<br />

Words: Ononofile Lonkokile<br />

(EFF) Mbuyiseni Quintin Ndlozi and<br />

Equatorial Guinea’s Minister of Culture<br />

and Craft Promotion Guillermina-Mekuy<br />

Mba Obono.<br />

Kenewendo’s nomination does not<br />

come as a surprise, given her rich career<br />

catalogue. Over the years, the 30-year<br />

old internationally trained economist and<br />

policy analyst has successfully juggled<br />

several roles at a time. She is an. Her<br />

previous posts include a stint as a trade<br />

economist for the Ministry of Trade and<br />

Industry in Ghana as well as an economic<br />

consultant at Econsult in Botswana.<br />

She holds an MSc in International<br />

Economics from the University of Sussex<br />

in the UK. She completed her BA in<br />

Economics at the University of Botswana.<br />

She has successfully tackled studies in<br />

European Integration at Tor Vergata at<br />

the Jean Monnet international Summer<br />

School in Rome, Italy and studies in<br />

Economic Freedom Philosophy at the<br />

Foundation for Economic Education.<br />

Above these commendable feats,<br />

Bogolo Kenewendo<br />

Kenewendo is a trendsetter and a cultural<br />

pioneer. She has set the stage for the next<br />

wave of aspiring young female leaders.<br />

As a MIPAD 2017 nominee, she joins a<br />

long list of influential people recognised<br />

in other categories, among them Trevor<br />

Noah, Usain Bolt and Lewis Hamilton.<br />

The awards dinner in honour of the ‘MIPAD<br />

Class of 2017’ is slated for September 26,<br />

2017 in New York after the opening of the<br />

72nd Session of the UN General Assembly.<br />

Former US President Barack Obama and<br />

current UN Secretary General António<br />

Guterres are invited as keynote speakers.<br />

The Coordinator at Botswana<br />

Climate Change, Tracy Sonny, said<br />

this at a workshop to give feedback<br />

on the outcomes of the Marrakech<br />

conference in Gaborone recently.<br />

Sonny said it was agreed that all countries<br />

would play their part in accordance with<br />

their capabilities and contributions to global<br />

warming. It was also agreed that global<br />

warming must be limited to 1.5 degrees<br />

and that all parties must practically commit<br />

beyond their current level of emission target<br />

in their Nationally Determined Contributions<br />

(NDCs).<br />

Developed countries were urged to<br />

drastically cut domestic greenhouse gas (GHG)<br />

emissions beyond what is proposed in their<br />

NDCs. It was also agreed that the government<br />

6<br />

should place priority on development of a<br />

national climate change policy to pave way for<br />

implementation of Vision 2036.<br />

UNCCC Marrakech took place under<br />

the auspices of The Paris Agreement, an<br />

arrangement of 195 countries that adopted<br />

the first-ever universal legally binding global<br />

climate deal. Some part of the agreed deal was<br />

that there should be mitigation, which means<br />

reducing emissions, and adaptation, which<br />

means strengthening society’s ability to deal<br />

with the impact of climate change. “Botswana<br />

is also to expedite the process of ratifying the<br />

Paris Agreement,” said Sonny.<br />

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), including<br />

the Botswana Climate Change Network, are to<br />

advocate for timeous ratification, acceptance<br />

and approval of the Multilateral Environment<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017<br />

Agreement to facilitate climate change issues<br />

being approached from bottom up vis-àvis<br />

the current top down approach used by<br />

governments. This should allow CSOs to<br />

play a meaningful role in the climate change<br />

dialogue process in Botswana. CSOs are also<br />

to underline climate change vulnerability<br />

not only by exposure to climate events, but<br />

by social or institutional assets within a<br />

determined society as well.<br />

CSOs and regional bodies like SADC<br />

should advocate for capacity building in the<br />

region by information sharing and ensure<br />

capacity building at the grassroots level. CSOs<br />

must be the voice of the voiceless and ensure<br />

inclusivity by closing the gap between research<br />

institutions and ordinary citizenry. They must<br />

also promote accountability and transparency.


‘EmPowered’ Motswana<br />

just misses prestigious<br />

African Award<br />

•Ntobedzi was nominated for innovative IT solutions to<br />

Botswana’s power deficiency<br />

Words: Raymond Moremi<br />

Uganda’s Rose Kaggwa<br />

(PhD) is this year’s Africa’s<br />

‘Outstanding Woman of the<br />

Year,’ beating Botswana’s<br />

Eunice Ntobedzi who had<br />

been shortlisted alongside seven others,<br />

including Kaggwa, for the African Utility<br />

Week Power Industry Awards for 2017,<br />

inBusiness has established.<br />

Kanggwa is the Director of Business<br />

and Scientific Services at Uganda’s Water<br />

and Sewerage Corporation. The award<br />

was conferred on her at the 4th Annual<br />

African Utility Week on May 17 in Cape<br />

Town, South Africa at an occasion that<br />

brought together 800 most distinguished<br />

power and water industry professionals.<br />

The awards represent a benchmark<br />

of excellence and recognise, reward and<br />

celebrate success in Africa’s power and<br />

water sectors. It is therefore significant<br />

of Ntobedzi that she was nominated<br />

alongside the best of the continent’s<br />

female powerhouses in energy ranging<br />

from Nigeria, Ethiopia and Uganda to<br />

Côte d’Ivoire and South Africa.<br />

With an overwhelming number of<br />

entries this year, a jury group reportedly<br />

had the extremely difficult task of<br />

whittling the great and good of the<br />

innovators down to the very best. In the<br />

end, after a rigorous adjudication process,<br />

they narrowed the numbers down to just<br />

eight finalists, with Ntobedzi cited as one<br />

of the strongest contenders for her startup<br />

company that is called EmPowered.<br />

Botswana’s trailblazer has been<br />

recognised for her innovative solution to<br />

shortage of electricity in her country. She<br />

devised a mobile-enabled community<br />

energy management platform that<br />

takes advantage of Africa long hours of<br />

sunlight. EmPowered uses renewable<br />

solar photovoltaic panels which convert<br />

the sun’s energy into electricity. It enables<br />

those living without electricity to purchase<br />

solar equipment and power via a Pay-As-<br />

You-Go mobile phone application.<br />

Ntobedzi is no stranger to being<br />

nominated for and winning awards. Her<br />

tireless drive and passion in addressing<br />

energy poverty and bringing the<br />

underserved market, the unbanked and<br />

the off-grid population robust, affordable<br />

solar energy solutions have seen her come<br />

under the spotlight.<br />

She was shortlisted by Global<br />

Innovation through Science and<br />

Technology (GIST Tech-I) as one of only<br />

76 candidates for the Global Innovation<br />

Award with a focus on energy poverty.<br />

She was also nominated for the 2016<br />

Momentum for Change Awards. The<br />

awards, spearheaded by the United<br />

Nations Climate Change Secretariat,<br />

recognised innovative projects that are<br />

already addressing and transforming<br />

climate change and wider economic,<br />

social and environmental challenges with<br />

solutions that achieve lasting results and<br />

inspire others to act.<br />

Ntobedzi has been staunch and<br />

innovative in her determination to<br />

make a difference in Botswana and<br />

her community-centred approach in<br />

achieving this has been described as aweinspiring.<br />

The Woman of the Moment: Rose Kaggwa<br />

“A woman is the greatest mutli-tasker,”<br />

said Dr. Rose Kaggwa, the winner of the<br />

Outstanding Woman of the Year: Power/<br />

Water 2017. She believes that a woman<br />

can shine given any opportunity.<br />

Dr. Kaggwa received the award at<br />

the fourth African Utility Week Power<br />

Industry Awards on Wednesday, May<br />

17, 2017 during the 17th annual African<br />

Utility Week in Cape Town, South Africa.<br />

These awards brought together 800<br />

of Africa’s most renowned power and<br />

water industry professionals. She has<br />

worked in various management levels<br />

within the National Water and Sewerage<br />

Corporation in Uganda, and is currently<br />

the Director for Business and Scientific<br />

Services. She is responsible for Capacity<br />

Development and Training, Research and<br />

Development, and External Services, the<br />

NWSC Consultancy arm. She has led the<br />

Consultancy unit for the past 10 years. Dr.<br />

Kaggwa has also been essential to many<br />

performance improvement approaches<br />

applied in NWSC at both the managerial<br />

and supervisory level.<br />

Dr. Kaggwa has 24 years of experience<br />

in the water sector and has interfaced<br />

with various players in the sector. She<br />

has spearheaded partnerships in several<br />

countries, including Bangladesh, Kenya,<br />

Tanzania, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Rwanda,<br />

South Sudan, Trinidad and Tobago,<br />

India, and Zambia. She is also the current<br />

Second President of the African Water<br />

Association Scientific and Technical<br />

Committee and the Vice President of the<br />

UNESCO-IHP Advisory Committee for<br />

Human Settlement, Water and Sanitation.<br />

Her passion is capacity development and<br />

raising the profile of women in the water<br />

and sanitation sector.<br />

This is the second award that Dr. Kaggwa<br />

received in the span of one year. The<br />

first being the 2016 IWA Women in<br />

Water Award during the International<br />

Water Association Congress in Brisbane,<br />

Australia.<br />

The Outstanding Woman of the Year<br />

award celebrates a woman in the power<br />

or water industries for their outstanding<br />

achievements, contribution or impact on<br />

the sector whether from utility, public or<br />

private company.<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017 7


MIND OVER MATTER<br />

Become the CEO of Your Life<br />

You are the master being a leader in your organisation and community,<br />

yet you are struggling to truly acknowledge that you are<br />

the CEO of your own life. Maybe it is time to change the way you<br />

approach the other aspects of your life and to establish yourself<br />

as the CEO of your life, writes KOZIBA MALIBALA<br />

Being the head of any company,<br />

no matter how successful, can<br />

be demanding and emotionally<br />

taxing as the primary decisions<br />

and direction of where a company<br />

is going rest squarely on the CEO’s shoulders.<br />

Take successful companies like Apple, OWN<br />

or Berkshire Hathaway. At their helm, one<br />

person has manned the rudder, but all<br />

three of these CEOs started from nothing.<br />

All three had tumultuous times, but all<br />

three, due to their tenacity, clear vision and<br />

work ethic of doggedness, have been very<br />

successful.<br />

There is perhaps no other quality that can<br />

accelerate your career or create success in<br />

your life as quickly as accepting that you<br />

are a leader in everything that you do. And<br />

you become a leader by demonstrating<br />

the qualities of leadership whenever those<br />

qualities are required by the situation.<br />

You already know that you become what<br />

you think about most of the time. And what<br />

you think determines what you do. If you<br />

think the way leaders think, you will say and<br />

do the things that leaders say and do and<br />

make things possible.<br />

It is also true that you become what you do.<br />

Infact, you are what you do. Your actions are<br />

the only true measure of your character and<br />

your personality. When you act like a leader,<br />

you begin to think and feel like a leader as<br />

well. This is why leaders are made, not born.<br />

Everyone has within them the qualities of<br />

leadership. If you practise these qualities<br />

regularly and systematically, you soon<br />

realise that you are a leader in everything<br />

that you do.<br />

LEADER OF OWN COMPANY<br />

The basic rule for success in your life,<br />

your work and your career is that you to<br />

see yourself as the president of your own<br />

personal service corporation. See yourself<br />

as an independent contractor selling your<br />

services back to your company at an hourly<br />

rate.<br />

See your current employer as your best<br />

client. See yourself on the same level as any<br />

other person who owns his or her company.<br />

You are the CEO. You are in charge of the<br />

success in your life. You make the decisions<br />

and determine the direction of your own<br />

personal services firm.<br />

What do the top people do in each<br />

organization? What are the key<br />

responsibilities of managers and senior<br />

executives? Of all the things that you could<br />

do each day, what are the things that you do<br />

that are the most important? Managers and<br />

executives have been studied for many years.<br />

We now know exactly the qualities that most<br />

differentiate a leader from a non-leader.<br />

We also know those activities that leaders<br />

in business are responsible for. When<br />

you begin to practise these qualities and<br />

behaviours, you step on the accelerator of<br />

your own career and move quickly to the<br />

front in whatever you are doing.<br />

Much like predicting the stock market’s<br />

flows and ebbs, life too is unpredictable.<br />

But if you choose to incorporate these<br />

components into your life’s mission<br />

statement as CEO, you are more likely to<br />

soar with the eagles than to remain on the<br />

ground. These are the major things which I<br />

believe you should do in order to become the<br />

CEO of your life.<br />

1. LOOK BEYOND OTHERS’ APPROVAL<br />

A truly fulfilling life can only materialise if<br />

we choose the life we are living for ourselves.<br />

So rather than seek others’ approval, seek<br />

first your own approval and have the courage<br />

to follow through. Whether one chooses to<br />

have a child or not, to marry or not marry, or<br />

to pursue a particular career or not should<br />

only be because it is in alignment with their<br />

path, their talents and their passions instead<br />

of simply following the crowd. If your path<br />

isn’t the one society is used to seeing, you<br />

may have to muster up your gumption, but<br />

it could be difficult sometimes. But rest<br />

assured, if you know it to be the best path<br />

for you, the approval from others will be the<br />

furthest thing from your mind.<br />

2. CARE FOR YOUR TEMPLE REGULARLY<br />

In order to do your best, be productive and<br />

be able to evolve into the person you are<br />

confident you can become, you must care<br />

for your body - internally, externally and<br />

mentally - on a regular basis. Adhering to a<br />

regular workout routine, practising regular<br />

mind mastery techniques and attending<br />

to your beauty regimen is not an effort in<br />

vanity. It is an approach that will allow you<br />

to perform and feel your best so that you can<br />

forget about the state of your body, mind<br />

and physical appearance and simply go<br />

about your job.<br />

3. PURSUE YOUR PATH WITH<br />

DETERMINATION<br />

It has been my experience that very few<br />

things worth having, experiencing or being<br />

involved with happen within the snap of<br />

the fingers. Life often wants to assess how<br />

badly we desire something - be it a job or<br />

a new relationship. And while it may seem<br />

that life is shutting the door on our dreams,<br />

I’ve never found the door to be locked. Life<br />

merely wants to know if you indeed want it<br />

as much as you say you do in other words,<br />

continue to knock.<br />

Ultimately, you have to know what<br />

you want in order to pursue and attain<br />

it. And once you know what you want,<br />

pursue it without relenting. Showing such<br />

determination will eventually be rewarded.<br />

4. MASTER YOUR MIND<br />

The reality you create in your mind is often<br />

what will materialise in the world you live<br />

in. So what do you want to see in the near<br />

future? Have the strength and the tenacity<br />

to boot out the bad and usher in the good.<br />

“You have to kick people out of your head as<br />

forcefully as you’d kick someone out of your<br />

house if you didn’t want them to be there,”<br />

said Sophia Amoruso.<br />

I would like to conclude by saying<br />

sometimes life might seem to be without<br />

options for you. This happens when<br />

you experience a kind of paralysis and<br />

unconscious willingness to follow societal<br />

dictates rather than becoming the CEO of<br />

our own life. When you mindlessly follow<br />

the dots, you smother your innate gifts<br />

and miss opportunities to fulfil your true<br />

potential.<br />

Kindly take note of this: Winners don’t do<br />

different things, they do things differently!<br />

For comments, kindly email me at: koziba@<br />

kozibamalibala.com<br />

Online Profile:<br />

Website: www.kozibamalibala.com<br />

Facebook: @kozibacatherinemalibala<br />

LinkedIn: @kozibam<br />

8<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017


SIDILEGA:<br />

Just What The Doctor Ordered<br />

Words: Natasha Selato<br />

People of Gaborone and<br />

surrounding areas are looking<br />

forward to next year when a<br />

new private hospital that is<br />

under construction at Block 7<br />

will begin to receive patients,<br />

easing congestion at existing health facilities in<br />

and around the capital, especially at Princess<br />

Marina Referral Hospital.<br />

The facility, which will be known as Sidilega<br />

Private Hospital, will be a multi-specialty<br />

facility with 103 beds. The project is a<br />

consortium of Tahir Investment Property and<br />

a group of doctors and other investors. It is<br />

envisaged that Sidilega will create jobs for 300<br />

people.<br />

Says Dr. Motsholathebe Phuthego, acting<br />

as the spokesman of the consortium: “The<br />

decision to build the facility in Block 7 was<br />

made after looking at the population density of<br />

the neighbourhood and huge scope for future<br />

expansion of the site.<br />

“The Western Bypass provides easy access<br />

for people coming from surrounding areas<br />

and villages within a radius of 80 kilometres.<br />

The Sir Seretse Khama International Airport is<br />

around 10 kilometres from the project.”<br />

According to Dr. Phuthego, the consortium<br />

that is building Sidilega Private Hospital<br />

is made up of people who have substantial<br />

experience working in government and<br />

private hospitals locally and internationally.<br />

The opening of the hospital is scheduled to be<br />

mid-2018.<br />

“When fully operational,<br />

the facility will employ<br />

around 300 people,” he says.<br />

“Our preference will be young<br />

Batswana as we strongly<br />

believe our country has the<br />

skill and manpower for a<br />

project of this magnitude.”<br />

At a recent groundbreaking ceremony,<br />

journalists heard that health services at the<br />

hospital would include urology, maxillofacial<br />

surgery, neurology, obstetrics, gynecology<br />

and pediatrics. In addition, highly specialised<br />

services that are not easily available in<br />

Botswana such as ophthalmology, surgical<br />

oncology, digestive and liver disease treatment,<br />

interventional radiology, pain management,<br />

laproscopic surgeries will also be on offer.<br />

A 24-hour burns unit, as well as a 24-hour<br />

pharmacy, both on site and online, will be<br />

available. A dedicated pediatric Emergency<br />

Room (ER), a first in Botswana, CT Scan and<br />

MRI services, as well as day care facilities are<br />

plans for the future soon after opening.<br />

“We at Sidilega Private Hospital have<br />

identified services that are currently not<br />

available in the country both at private and<br />

public facilities,” Dr Phuthego notes. “We are<br />

here to augment existing facilities to improve<br />

the health care of Batswana.”<br />

The project founders intend to incorporate<br />

unprecedented efficiency in the patient care<br />

delivery process through an IT support system<br />

that will address patients both during visits to<br />

the hospital and at home. The IT support will<br />

also facilitate access to chronic rehabilitation<br />

needs at home. These will include nursing<br />

services, wound care, physiotherapy, blood<br />

collection and pharmacy management.<br />

Dr. Phuthego says qualified youths<br />

are encouraged to apply as soon as the<br />

recruitment process begins. “We encourage<br />

all young Batswana with various health<br />

care qualifications to apply when our HR<br />

recruitment process begins. We do have a<br />

Facebook page and encourage all to Like and<br />

Follow the page for updates.”<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017 9


INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS<br />

Zimbabwe Schools Accept Goats for<br />

Tuition Fees<br />

Parents in Zimbabwe who<br />

cannot afford school<br />

fees can offer livestock<br />

such as goats or sheep as<br />

payment, a government minister<br />

has said.<br />

The country's education<br />

minister Lazarus Dokora told the<br />

pro-government Sunday Mail<br />

newspaper that schools will have<br />

to show flexibility when it comes<br />

to demanding tuition fees from<br />

parents, and that they should<br />

accept not only livestock, but also<br />

services and skills. "If there is a<br />

builder in the community, he/she<br />

must be given that opportunity<br />

to work as a form of payment of<br />

tuition fees," the paper quoted<br />

him as saying.<br />

Some schools are already accepting livestock<br />

as payments, the Sunday Mail reported.<br />

A ministry official clarified Dr Dokora's<br />

comments: "Parents of the concerned children<br />

can pay the fees using livestock. That is mostly<br />

for rural areas, but parents in towns and cities<br />

can pay through other means; for instance,<br />

doing certain work for the school."<br />

It follows a move last week where Zimbabwe<br />

allowed people to use their livestock such<br />

as goats, cows and sheep to back bank loans.<br />

Under legislation introduced in parliament this<br />

week, borrowers would be allowed to register<br />

"movable" assets, including motor vehicles and<br />

machinery, as collateral, the BBC's<br />

World Business Report said.<br />

According to the Bulawayo24<br />

news portal, Zimbabwe's<br />

worsening cash crisis means that<br />

people frequently spend hours<br />

queueing at banks to withdraw<br />

cash. The government says<br />

the shortage is due to people<br />

taking hard currency out of the<br />

country, but critics say it is due<br />

to lack of investment and rising<br />

unemployment, Bulawayo24 says.<br />

Social media has met the goatsfor-fees<br />

idea with a mixture of<br />

scorn and gallows humour.<br />

Zimbabwean novelist Tsitsi<br />

Dangarembga tweeted "If we had<br />

been told in 1970 'We are fighting<br />

to introduce cattle and goats as<br />

currency. Please help & die for this' what<br />

would we have said?"; while another Twitter<br />

user - recognising the fact that not all farm<br />

animals are born equal - asked: "Can I get a job<br />

as a goat evaluator?"<br />

(BBC Monitoring)<br />

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10<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017


Djibouti Opens Most Advanced Port In Africa<br />

Doraleh Multipurpose Port is set to Transform Shipping<br />

in the Horn of Africa<br />

ARTIST EXPRESSION OF DORALEH MULTIPURPOSE PORT. The State of Djibouti in East Africa has officially opened<br />

the Doraleh Multipurpose Port, adding capacity for 8.2 million tonnes of non-containerized goods.<br />

Djibouti has opened the<br />

country’s latest mega project<br />

– the Doraleh Multipurpose<br />

Port (DMP) on May 24. The<br />

official opening ceremony<br />

was held under the auspices<br />

of Djibouti’s President Ismail Omar Guelleh,<br />

together with Hailemariam Desalegn, the<br />

Prime Minister of Ethiopia.<br />

ULTRA-MODERN PORT FACILITIES<br />

The new 690 hectare facility is equipped<br />

with ultra-modern facilities that can<br />

accommodate 100,000 dwt vessels. The<br />

USD$590m project was started in 2015<br />

and jointly financed by Djibouti Ports and<br />

Free Zones Authority (DPFZA) and China<br />

Merchant Holding (CMHC). The state-of-theart<br />

port equipment was all manufactured by<br />

the Chinese firm ZPMC. Vessels have already<br />

begun using the facility.<br />

The port provides a world-class logistics<br />

platform for shipping. The new facilities<br />

will vastly improve the efficiency and ease<br />

of doing business in the Horn of Africa. The<br />

project cements Djibouti’s position as a critical<br />

junction on the “Maritime Silk Road”.<br />

At the opening ceremony, Aboubaker Omar<br />

Hadi, Chairman of DPFZA remarked: “With<br />

this new world-class infrastructure, Djibouti<br />

confirms its position as a major trading hub<br />

for the continent. We are proud to show<br />

the world our capacity to deliver major<br />

infrastructure projects – some of the most<br />

technologically advanced on this continent.”<br />

EMERGING AS A MULTI-MODAL<br />

TRADE HUB<br />

DMP is the latest in a series of mega<br />

projects in Djibouti. These projects include<br />

four new ports, a Liquefied Natural Gas<br />

facility, an oil terminal and two brand new<br />

airports. Together they will dramatically<br />

expand Djibouti’s ability to serve as a platform<br />

and trade hub for the region.<br />

The projects follow the completion of the<br />

Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway, a new 752km<br />

track linking Ethiopia’s capital with the Port<br />

of Djibouti.<br />

Djibouti sits at the centre of world trade<br />

routes, connecting Asia, Africa and Europe.<br />

The port is a gateway to one of the fastest<br />

growing regions of the world with 30,000<br />

ships transiting the port each year. Goods<br />

from Asia represent 59%, with 21% coming<br />

from Europe and 16% from elsewhere in<br />

Africa.<br />

FACTS ABOUT DPFZA<br />

DPFZA is the government body overseeing<br />

ports in the country. The organisation also<br />

oversees the national free trade zones, serving<br />

as a liaison between companies working<br />

therein and other government agencies.<br />

DPFZA is the sole authority in charge of<br />

the administration and control of all the free<br />

zones and ports in Djibouti. The entity also<br />

plays an instrumental role as the sole interface<br />

between the free zone companies and any<br />

other governmental bodies and comes<br />

under the direct authority of the Djibouti<br />

Presidential Office.<br />

The DPFZA holds several mandates, among<br />

them:<br />

• Promotion of the Djibouti Ports & Free<br />

Zones as a commercial and logistic<br />

platform;<br />

• Establishment of a business-friendly<br />

environment with a business oriented<br />

legal framework<br />

• Regulation of the ports through its Board<br />

of Directors.<br />

• Creation of new Ports and Free Zones<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017 11


World Pledges to Save ‘Mother Earth’…<br />

in the Aftermath of Trump’s snub on Climate Change<br />

By THOMAS ESCRITT and PHILIP<br />

BLEKISOP<br />

BERLIN: China and Europe have pledged<br />

to unite to save what German Chancellor<br />

Angela Merkel called "our Mother Earth",<br />

standing firmly against President Donald<br />

Trump's decision to take the United States<br />

out of the Paris climate change pact.<br />

Others, including India, signaled their<br />

commitment to the accord, but Russian<br />

President Vladimir Putin said that while the<br />

United States should have remained in the<br />

Donald Trump<br />

2015 deal, he would not judge Trump, and<br />

warned about the accord's impact on jobs<br />

and poverty.<br />

Tapping into the "America First" message<br />

he used on the election trail, Trump<br />

announced the withdrawal on June1,<br />

saying that participating would undermine<br />

the U.S. economy, wipe out U.S. jobs,<br />

weaken American national sovereignty<br />

and put the country at a permanent<br />

disadvantage to others.<br />

There was a mix of dismay and anger<br />

across the world.<br />

France said it would work with U.S. states<br />

and cities -- some of which, notably<br />

California, have broken with Trump's<br />

decision -- to keep up the fight against<br />

climate change. A number of business<br />

and industry figures criticized Trump's<br />

decision, while others focused on what it<br />

might mean to their trade.<br />

Germany's powerful car industry said<br />

Europe would need to reassess its<br />

environmental standards to remain<br />

competitive after the "regrettable" U.S.<br />

decision.<br />

The World Meteorological Organisation<br />

estimated that U.S. withdrawal from the<br />

emissions-cutting accord could add 0.3<br />

degrees Celsius to global temperatures<br />

by the end of the century in a worst-case<br />

scenario.<br />

Germany's Merkel, a pastor's daughter<br />

who is usually intensely private about her<br />

faith, said the accord was needed "to<br />

preserve our Creation"<br />

"To everyone for whom the future of our<br />

planet is important, I say let's continue<br />

going down this path so we're successful<br />

for our Mother Earth," she said to<br />

applause from lawmakers.<br />

In Paris, French President Emmanuel<br />

Macron turned Trump's "Make America<br />

Great Again" campaign slogan on its<br />

head, saying in a rare English-language<br />

statement that it was time to "make the<br />

planet great again".<br />

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12<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017


was dominated by Trump's decision.<br />

The meeting was expected to end<br />

with a joint statement pledging full<br />

implementation of the Paris deal,<br />

committing China and the EU to cutting<br />

back on fossil fuels, developing more<br />

green technology and helping raise $100<br />

billion a year by 2020 to help poorer<br />

countries reduce their emissions.<br />

China, now the world's largest polluter, has<br />

emerged as Europe's unlikely partner in<br />

this and other areas - underlining Trump's<br />

isolation on many issues. "There is no<br />

reverse gear to energy transition. There is<br />

Angela Merkel<br />

no backsliding on the Paris Agreement,"<br />

European Commission President Jean-<br />

Claude Juncker said.<br />

China said it was a responsible country<br />

that had been working hard on tackling<br />

climate change.<br />

WARM WORDS<br />

The vast majority of scientists believe that<br />

global warming - bringing with it sharp<br />

changes in climate patterns - is mainly the<br />

result of human activities including power<br />

generation, transport, agriculture and<br />

industry.<br />

A small group of skeptics - some of whom<br />

are in the Trump White House - believe<br />

this is a hoax that could damage business.<br />

A number of figures from U.S. industry<br />

expressed their dismay at Trump's move.<br />

Jeff Immelt, chief executive officer of U.S.<br />

conglomerate General Electric, tweeted:<br />

"Climate change is real. Industry must now<br />

lead and not depend on government."<br />

Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk and Walt Disney<br />

CEO Robert Iger said they would leave<br />

White House advisory councils after<br />

Trump's move.<br />

German industry associations also<br />

criticised Trump's decision, warning that it<br />

would harm the global economy and lead<br />

to market distortions.<br />

Germany's DIHK Chambers of Commerce<br />

and VDMA engineering industry group<br />

warned that U.S. companies could<br />

gain short-term advantages by Trump's<br />

decision.<br />

"Climate protection can be pushed<br />

forward in an effective and competitionfriendly<br />

way only by all states," said DIHK<br />

President Eric Schweitzer.<br />

Environmental groups were scathing.<br />

The U.S. Sierra Club, citing Trump's<br />

endorsement of what he regards as<br />

clean coal, tweeted: "Clean coal, you<br />

can find that next to the unicorns and<br />

leprechauns."<br />

(Writing by Jeremy Gaunt; Editing by<br />

Robin Pomeroy, both of Reuters)<br />

Trump Misunderstood MIT Climate Research<br />

BY EMILY FLITTER<br />

NEW YORK: Massachusetts Institute of<br />

Technology officials said U.S. President<br />

Donald Trump badly misunderstood their<br />

research when he cited it on June 1 to<br />

justify withdrawing the United States from<br />

the Paris Climate Agreement.<br />

Trump announced during a speech at<br />

the White House Rose Garden that he<br />

had decided to pull out of the landmark<br />

climate deal, in part because it would not<br />

reduce global temperatures fast enough<br />

to have a significant impact.<br />

"Even if the Paris Agreement were<br />

implemented in full, with total compliance<br />

from all nations, it is estimated it would<br />

only produce a two-tenths of one degree<br />

Celsius reduction in global temperature<br />

by the year 2100," Trump said.<br />

"Tiny, tiny amount."<br />

That claim was attributed to research<br />

conducted by MIT, according to White<br />

House documents seen by Reuters.<br />

The Cambridge, Massaschusetts-based<br />

research university published a study in<br />

April 2016 titled "How much of a difference<br />

will the Paris Agreement make?" showing<br />

that if countries abided by their pledges<br />

in the deal, global warming would slow<br />

by between 0.6 degree and 1.1 degrees<br />

Celsius by 2100.<br />

"We certainly do not support the<br />

withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris<br />

agreement," said Erwan Monier, a lead<br />

researcher at the MIT Joint Programme on<br />

the Science and Policy of Global Change,<br />

and one of the study's authors.<br />

"If we don't do anything, we might shoot<br />

over 5 degrees or more and that would<br />

be catastrophic," said John Reilly, the codirector<br />

of the programme, adding that<br />

MIT's scientists had had no contact with<br />

the White House and were not offered a<br />

chance to explain their work.<br />

The Paris accord, reached by nearly 200<br />

countries in 2015, was meant to limit<br />

global warming to 2 degrees or less by<br />

2100, mainly through country pledges to<br />

cut carbon dioxide and other emissions<br />

from the burning of fossil fuels.<br />

Under the pact, the United States - the<br />

world's second biggest carbon emitter<br />

behind China - had committed to reduce<br />

its emissions by 26% to 28%from 2005<br />

levels by 2025.<br />

A senior administration official defended<br />

Trump's use of the findings. "It's not just<br />

MIT. I think there is a consensus, not only<br />

in the environmental community, but<br />

elsewhere that the Paris agreement in and<br />

of itself will have a negligible impact on<br />

climate," the official told reporters at a<br />

briefing.<br />

The dispute is the latest round of a<br />

years-long battle between scientists and<br />

politicians over how to interpret facts<br />

about the effects of burning fossil fuels on<br />

the global climate and translate them into<br />

policy.<br />

Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on the<br />

science of climate change and once called<br />

it a hoax perpetrated by China to weaken<br />

U.S. business.<br />

(Reporting By Emily Flitter in New<br />

York; Additional reporting by Valerie<br />

Volcovici in Washington; Editing by<br />

Jonathan Oatis, all of Reuters)<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017 <strong>13</strong>


THE GLOBAL COLUMN<br />

ON THE<br />

Diplomatic<br />

FRONT<br />

With TUDUETSO TEBAPE<br />

‘Botswana and Kenya are in a<br />

good place’<br />

Botswana’s celebrated weatherman, the eponymous Radithupa Radithupa, is<br />

perhaps the most outstanding symbol of the diplomatic relations between Kenya<br />

and Botswana that go back to 1966. But so are the locomotive drivers who<br />

ferry tonnes of goods from the SA side of Ramatlabama to the Zimbabwe side of<br />

Ramokgwebana, as well as passengers on the famous BR Express<br />

So keen to discuss the bilateral<br />

relations between Botswana and<br />

Kenya was High Commissioner<br />

Jean W. Kimani that arranging for<br />

the interview with the East African<br />

country’s envoy took less than two days. When<br />

we met at her office at Plot 2615, Zebra Way,<br />

Extension 9, Gaborone, it became obvious why<br />

Ambassador Kimani was so eager to share<br />

the Botswana/Kenya story with inBusiness<br />

Magazine.<br />

Although one country is near the African<br />

continent’s southernmost cape and the other is<br />

in the vicinage of the Horn of Africa, the two<br />

share close ties that are centred on extending<br />

knowledge and skills, as well as fostering<br />

trade and investment. And there is much<br />

to be said about Kenya and Botswana which<br />

have had diplomatic relations since 1966,<br />

although Kenya only established its mission in<br />

Gaborone in 2000.<br />

Says Ambassador Kimani, who began her<br />

assignment to Botswana in 20<strong>13</strong>: “Kenya and<br />

Botswana have excellent bilateral relations. The<br />

relations are founded on the historic bonds of<br />

friendship between the founding fathers of the<br />

two nations and have been nurtured over the<br />

years by shared values and interests.”<br />

The ambassador notes that these relations<br />

are equally important to both countries and<br />

cites the state visit to Botswana of President<br />

Uhuru Kenyatta last year to underline this<br />

point. The incumbent president is the son<br />

of Jomo Kenyatta, the founding leader of<br />

Kenya whose friendship with Seretse Khama,<br />

Botswana’s founding president, developed<br />

High Commissioner OF Kenya to Botswana, Jean Kimani<br />

a special bond that made Kenya a virtual<br />

member of the Frontline States when the<br />

country fell outside the geography of the<br />

region that formed a bulwark against apartheid<br />

South Africa.<br />

Another of Seretse’s most abiding friends,<br />

Zambia’s Kenneth Kaunda, was instrumental<br />

14<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017


in encouraging this amity, as he was in<br />

bringing Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere in an<br />

embrace that fortified resistance to apartheid,<br />

giving solace to Lesotho and Sawziland, the<br />

smaller Frontline States whose territories were<br />

surrounded by the polecat country.<br />

Kenya is the dominant economy in the<br />

East African Community (EAC), contributing<br />

more than 50% of the Gross Domestic Product<br />

(GDP) of the whole economic bloc. At 43<br />

million and growing at a rate of 2.7% per<br />

annum, the country’s population is massive by<br />

any standards and is certainly so by Botswana’s.<br />

Its strategic location is another key factor<br />

contributing to Kenya’s dominance in the EAC,<br />

it being the transport and communications<br />

hub of the region as well.<br />

In addition to a strong IT infrastructure,<br />

the East African giant is abundantly endowed<br />

with natural resources, as well as a vibrant<br />

agriculture and agro-processing industries.<br />

The national carrier, Kenya Airways, flies<br />

to 54 destinations. Ambassador Kimani<br />

elaborates: “Kenya’s strategic location and<br />

membership of regional economic blocs make<br />

the country the gateway to the huge EAC and<br />

COMESA (Common Market for Eastern and<br />

Southern Africa) regional markets, as well<br />

as a beneficiary of several preferential trade<br />

arrangements that include the Africa Growth<br />

and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and the EAC-<br />

EU Trade Agreement.”<br />

But long before Kenya became the dominant<br />

economy in East African, Botswana looked to<br />

the country as a key development partner in<br />

several respects. Kenyans trained Batswana<br />

locomotive drivers and meteorologists,<br />

reducing complete reliance for both services on<br />

minority-ruled Rhodesia and apartheid South<br />

Africa. “Kenya had a well-established Railways<br />

Training School and the Meteorological<br />

Training Institute that was established in<br />

1964,” Ambassador Kimani explains.<br />

“The current Institute<br />

for Metrological Training<br />

and Research/Regional<br />

Training Centre is<br />

regarded as a centre<br />

of excellence that<br />

specialises in training in<br />

meteorology and related<br />

geosciences. Hence<br />

Botswana continues to<br />

send its meteorologists<br />

to Kenya for training.”<br />

With regard to trade and investment,<br />

two business forums were held in 2014<br />

and 2016. In this context, the Minister of<br />

Investment, Trade and Industry, Vincent<br />

Seretse, has led a trade mission comprising<br />

entrepreneurs from various sectors to Kenya.<br />

“The highlight of the trade mission was the<br />

signing of a Memorandum of Understanding<br />

on trade, industry and investment,” says the<br />

Ambassador. “The mission was successful also<br />

because it provided an excellent platform for<br />

business players in both countries to explore<br />

possible areas for collaboration.<br />

“The signing of the MOU during the<br />

second forum between KNCCI and Business<br />

Botswana will go a long way in promoting and<br />

facilitating mutual trade and investment. The<br />

mission has received numerous enquiries on<br />

Kenyan products and investment opportunities<br />

and has been able to link the interested parties<br />

with the relevant organisations in Kenya.”<br />

One such investment opportunity surfaced<br />

last month when Davis & Shirtliff, a leading<br />

Kenyan manufacturer and supplier of water,<br />

borehole and solar power products came to<br />

Botswana to explore the possibility of setting<br />

up in the country.<br />

Ambassador Kimani speaks with the<br />

confidence of one assured of an all-embracing<br />

growth in the diplomatic relations between<br />

her country and Botswana. The seasoned<br />

diplomat that she is holds a Bachelor of Arts<br />

degree in Sociology and Government (Political<br />

Science), a Masters in Diplomacy and an MBA.<br />

Understandably, she describes herself as a<br />

career diplomat, saying the foreign service is<br />

where she has spent most of her working life.<br />

She is exudes an aura of character that is<br />

accentuated by a gentle voice that brings forth<br />

the mother in her. This is clearly the kind of<br />

woman that young girls want to emulate in<br />

future. But with her country gearing up for<br />

national elections that will be held later this<br />

year, Ambassador Kimani is aware that her<br />

assignment to Botswana as Head of Mission<br />

may be drawing to a close. Even so, she takes<br />

solace in the knowledge that her leadership at<br />

the Kenya High Commission to Botswana is<br />

leaving a positive imprint on the diplomatic<br />

ties between the two countries.<br />

“I have been here for the past four years,<br />

and it has been an exciting time,” she says. “I<br />

have seen relations between our two countries<br />

grow from strength to strength. We have been<br />

busy working on these relations from political,<br />

social and economic angles. I can say we have<br />

been moving the relations from every side.<br />

A lot has happened since that time. But even<br />

now, I still think more can be done. I’m excited.<br />

We are in a good place as far as our diplomatic<br />

relations are concerned.”<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017 15


COVER STORY<br />

Picture: Baagedi Setlhora<br />

16<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017


THEBE MODIKWA:<br />

It’s Teamwork All The Way<br />

Once he overcame the anxiety of stepping inside a bus load of 80 miners<br />

whom he was to supervise, most of them old enough to be his father, the<br />

young man was on the threshold to a future as bright as his country’s<br />

diamonds and as secure as a life insured, writes TUDUETSO TEBAPE<br />

When someone veers off<br />

a plan to read law in<br />

Botswana in preference<br />

for mining engineering<br />

in the UK, it must be for<br />

a cogent reason. That is<br />

what Thebe Modikwa, the<br />

Managing Director of newly<br />

established Old Mutual Life, did. He was persuaded<br />

by a felt need to tap into latent talent. That critical<br />

decision set him on a path of rapid progress in a<br />

mining career that would ultimately lead him to<br />

where he is today – the captain of a subsidiary of<br />

one of South Africa’s leading insurance companies<br />

at a critical time when it was setting up in Botswana.<br />

A part of the cogent reason was a Debswana ad<br />

about the influential mining company – one of<br />

the best in the world - recruiting the best Form<br />

Fivers to pursue degrees in various disciplines<br />

including mining engineering overseas. “Go tewa<br />

ko mafatsheng a’ tsididi,” Modikwa says, harking<br />

back to how the newspaper advert had the allure<br />

of countries of the colder climes in the Northern<br />

Hemisphere that still hold a fascination for young<br />

Batswana. A distinct draw card was the assurance<br />

of a secure job at a Debswana mine and all the perks<br />

that went with it upon completion of his studies.<br />

What more could a fellow want?<br />

2001 “Mining Engineering meant working hands<br />

on in jeans and boots, and that appealed to<br />

me,” Modikwa continues, still in memory lane.<br />

“Thankfully, my application was successful and<br />

I went off to study mining engineering at the<br />

University of Nottingham. When I finished, I went<br />

to work at Jwaneng Mine.”<br />

Working at Jwaneng Mine honed his supervisory<br />

skills. But more importantly, it helped him develop<br />

a fundamental philosophy about teamwork that<br />

he values and still taps into to-date. “I learned<br />

a lot because mining is about team effort. It<br />

doesn’t matter how smart you are, you can’t<br />

achieve anything without the team.”<br />

He returns to the value of the supervisory skills<br />

that Jwaneng gave him: “I remember my first<br />

day at work,” he begins. “I was in my early 20s.<br />

I walked into a bus load of about 80 men, most<br />

of who were old enough to be my father, and I<br />

was to supervise them. These men have been<br />

working for all these years and you come along<br />

with a degree to super-vise them!?,” he says,<br />

enunciating the word one syllable at a time.<br />

“Anyway, you learn soft skills and how to motivate<br />

people very quickly. The environment there was<br />

also a very high performance environment. I<br />

remember that when I was going through the<br />

ranks as a supervisor, productivity was measured<br />

by the hour because you could count the tonnes.<br />

It was a very good foundation for me. When I<br />

left mining, I was able to adapt way ahead of my<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017 17


peers because Jwaneng had given me<br />

the awareness of how a productive<br />

business is run.”<br />

While most CEOs hardly accommodate<br />

media interviews, especially in<br />

Botswana where transparency<br />

remains an issue 50 years after the<br />

country’s much-vaunted democratic<br />

rule, this one is different. We are 50<br />

minutes into the interview and his<br />

attitude is increasingly more abiding.<br />

As a matter of fact, the conversation is<br />

flowing like water because Modikwa<br />

needs little prodding.<br />

It took another newspaper advert<br />

in 2006 for Modikwa to leave the<br />

world’s richest diamond mine. This<br />

time, Aon, the American insurance<br />

multinational, was looking for a risk<br />

consultant with mining and/or heavy<br />

industry experience in Gaborone.<br />

He was a single man then, and had<br />

been brought up in Jwaneng since<br />

1983. “The opportunity to work in the<br />

big city appealed to me,” he says.<br />

“So I applied to become an Aon Risk<br />

Management risk consultant to the<br />

mining industry.”<br />

With his mining experience, Modikwa<br />

did not struggle to gain the trust of<br />

mining clients across Botswana mainly<br />

because the people with whom<br />

he interacted were his colleagues<br />

by profession. There was thus little<br />

resistance when he gave incisive<br />

advice regarding how to avoid risk at<br />

their mines.<br />

Two years later, Modikwa decided<br />

to add another feather on his cap by<br />

embarking on an MBA programme<br />

at the University of Cape Town<br />

on through the prestigious Festus<br />

G. Mogae Scholarship. Upon<br />

completion a year later, he returned<br />

to Aon Botswana where he now<br />

worked as an insurance broker. This is<br />

a position he held until 2011 when he<br />

felt he needed a break from full time<br />

employment.<br />

During a five-month hiatus, Modikwa<br />

started a for profit website, iRela.<br />

co.bw. “iRela provides legitimate<br />

and safe voluntary community<br />

service opportunities through its<br />

website, www.iRela.co.bw, and<br />

social media. It is a support network<br />

for its beneficiaries and is powerfully<br />

transformational and fulfilling for the<br />

person giving the service”, reads the<br />

website’s page: “The sum: a better<br />

society for all.”<br />

Modikwa’s ‘sabbatical’ as a social<br />

entrepreneur was broken by a call<br />

from Debswana asking him to join<br />

the company that had given him his<br />

education and critical first job. This<br />

time he successfully interviewed<br />

for the Risk and Insurance Manager<br />

position on a two-year contract, an<br />

offer that he gladly accepted because<br />

it gave him a sense of returning to his<br />

magnetic north.<br />

He names one John Heldsinger, who<br />

was then Claims Manager at then<br />

Mutual & Federal, as the man who<br />

aided his entry into the Old Mutual<br />

family, having seen great potential<br />

in Modikwa in professional circles a<br />

few years before. Two years after his<br />

arrival, he was assigned to Lagos, the<br />

commercial capital of Africa’s most<br />

populous country, Nigeria. While the<br />

West African giant can be a difficult<br />

place to live in, the ‘village boy’ from<br />

Ratholo says he found it so “exciting”<br />

that when he was suddenly called<br />

upon to return home, he was initially<br />

reluctant. He was hardly a year into a<br />

contract that was to end this year.<br />

“I wasn’t too keen on returning<br />

because I had blended well and was<br />

enjoying myself,” he says. “I however<br />

eventually saw it as an opportunity<br />

to play a major role in building<br />

something new. Moreover, my history<br />

had been in short-term insurance and<br />

the opportunity to switch to longterm<br />

or life insurance was a unique<br />

one that I felt I had to grasp.”<br />

Old Mutual Life is one of eight other<br />

life insurance companies in Botswana,<br />

which means Modikwa and his<br />

pioneering team have to tackle<br />

considerable competition. Yet he was<br />

not deterred. “There is still room for<br />

more,” he says, revealing the intrepid<br />

in him.<br />

“When you ask<br />

Batswana about life<br />

insurance, they will most<br />

likely mention one or two<br />

insurers. But because<br />

it’s about competition<br />

and the best for clients,<br />

we don’t believe only<br />

two companies can do<br />

everything.”<br />

Modikwa is indeed “building<br />

something new” and growing with it<br />

because he is only 38 years old and<br />

the MD of a company that was only<br />

officially launched in March this year,<br />

although operations began last year.<br />

And here the interview turns a corner<br />

to take a route of inclusivity, with the<br />

first-person pronoun “I” assuming its<br />

plural form “we.” It is a return to the<br />

team player at the beginning of the<br />

interview. Modikwa is a busy man, yet<br />

the boy from rural Ratholo enjoys a<br />

full family life because the warmth of<br />

hearth and home is the source of his<br />

ultimate joy and the mutual happiness<br />

of both his wife and himself.<br />

He and Tapiwa are looking forward<br />

to their fourth wedding anniversary<br />

in October. This is a couple whose<br />

compatibility must be complete<br />

because Modikwa’s better half is also<br />

an insurance professional. inBusiness<br />

takes the opportunity to wish them<br />

well.<br />

18<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017


www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017 19


EXECUTIVE PROFILE<br />

20<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017


Labour ‘Suffragette’ Calls for<br />

Equal Pay<br />

In labour law consultant Rethabile Konopo’s view, Equal Pay for Women is as Inevitable as<br />

Establishment of the Kingdom of God on Earth because the Future of Humanity points to Men<br />

and Women working in Harmony to Earn a Living and Raise Children without Rigid Gender<br />

Divisions<br />

Words: Ononofile Lonkokile Pictures: Baagedi Setlhora<br />

Her constituency consists of<br />

blue-collar workers who toil<br />

in harsh conditions but apply<br />

themselves fully nevertheless.<br />

These are people whom the<br />

world of capital regards as a class that shall<br />

never find respite from servitude because they<br />

are hewers of wood and drawers of water, and<br />

treats them accordingly.<br />

Trapped in a culture that makes them<br />

meek, they broil in the sun and slog it in the<br />

rain but fail to negotiate for better wages and<br />

conditions or the reason that they are largely<br />

ignorant and hold authority in awe. Inspite<br />

of their suffering, the employer belongs to<br />

this venerable ambit. They are the ultimate<br />

definition of servility in a hostile environment<br />

because capitalism is about taking labour out<br />

of the equation of factors of production so that<br />

it is minimised as a cost.<br />

But these are people for whom Konopo &<br />

Partner Labour Law Consultancy - a conduit<br />

that came as an answer to real frustration - is in<br />

existence. Founder Rethabile Konopo defines<br />

her outfit as a private bridge of arbitration<br />

that straddles the government, employers and<br />

employees in the interests of saving time and<br />

money. This is because overburdened state<br />

judicial dockets have often meant that years<br />

could pass before an aggrieved employee<br />

finally presented his or her claim before a<br />

court, resulting in employers, employee groups<br />

and lawmakers seeking alternatives.<br />

“Over the years, the Department of Labour<br />

came to be widely seen as a prevaricator that<br />

wasted time, money and memory,” Konopo<br />

explains. “This is still very much the case todate.<br />

We try to save all three.”<br />

But there is a sub-stratum in this class.<br />

Because there is a history of women being<br />

subjugated as a sub-species bereft of both voice<br />

and vote, the distaff section of society continues<br />

to bear the brunt of exploitation four centuries<br />

after the Industrial Revolution. And for as<br />

long as gender inequality prevails, women will<br />

suffer the fate of minorities everywhere - poor<br />

prospects of realising their full potential and<br />

self-actualisation, especially in the workplace.<br />

That is why, as Konopo explains, her<br />

consultancy tends to have a pronounced<br />

bias for women in the workplace. “We aim<br />

at continuous improvement of living and<br />

working conditions for all employees,” she<br />

says. “However, while we are not restricted<br />

to women, we recognise that women are<br />

particularly susceptible.”<br />

She regards sexual harassment as the most<br />

telling symptom of women as an underclass,<br />

saying how it can also be the most demeaning<br />

experience and yet difficult case to prove. This<br />

is because only two people – the perpetrator<br />

and the victim - are usually present when it<br />

occurs. This makes sexual harassment even<br />

more arduous than the most traumatising and<br />

scarring form of assault on women - rape.<br />

Another instance of gender discrimination<br />

in the workplace is unequal pay for<br />

equal work that cuts across classes, from<br />

professional to unskilled labour. Konopo<br />

notes that the condition of women in the<br />

workplace is not helped by their tendency<br />

to perceive themselves as inferior. “This<br />

insecurity results in the pathetically<br />

internecine situation in which women turn on<br />

one another,” Konopo points out. “And this<br />

is an aspect that is hardly ever addressed for<br />

reasons of the disgrace that this in-fighting<br />

springs from, but women do get quite abrasive<br />

and aggressive against one another in both<br />

speech and action. The struggle for equality<br />

suffers in the process while the lowly position<br />

of women continues. ”<br />

It is little wonder that Konopo is doing<br />

work that aims to lighten the labour of her<br />

fellow women while emphasising its value.<br />

Her solidarity with them being most original<br />

as a born woman, she cut her teeth in<br />

leadership early in her teens when she became<br />

the Head Girl at Lobatse Senior Secondary<br />

School for 2003 and 2004. And although she<br />

is modest about the feat, those close to her say<br />

she became an accomplished youth leader in<br />

2007 when she successfully ran for Minister of<br />

Finance on the SRC at UB where she pursued<br />

a degree in Business Administration.<br />

But ask her how she tackles the balancing<br />

act of being a mother and the driving force<br />

behind her consultancy, and the feminist<br />

in her comes to the fore to demolish any<br />

misperceptions of a chicken-livered female.<br />

At least for a moment: “Isn’t that a bit sexist?,”<br />

Konopo queries. “I think it is. In my view,<br />

we should start from the premise that both<br />

women and men are expected to be gainfully<br />

employed and to become parents. The future<br />

is about shared responsibilities in both<br />

earning a living and raising children.”<br />

Having made her point, she returns to<br />

the present reality. She acknowledges the<br />

relevance of the question as one that bears<br />

testimony to the heavy burden that women of<br />

the world - especially working women - carry.<br />

And here Konopo reveals something of the<br />

latent numerologist in her; not in the sense<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017 21


of the ‘occult’ influence of numbers on human<br />

affairs but more in the manner of numbers and<br />

calculations as universal instruments of precision.<br />

In the estimation of this working mother of three,<br />

women carry out two-and-a-half times more<br />

household and care work than men, all of it highly<br />

invaluable but without monetary reward.<br />

This burden continues without relief when a<br />

woman engages in gainful employment or in selfemployment,<br />

placing restrictions on reaching her<br />

full potential and prospects of self-actualisation.<br />

Hence Konopo makes a call for an egalitarian<br />

approach: “Unpaid care work must be recognised,<br />

redistributed and modified towards harmonisation<br />

between work and family life,” she says.<br />

The reality of Botswana workers as an exploited<br />

lot and women as an underclass first hit her hard<br />

when she worked as an HR executive for a retail<br />

chain store whose merchandise was mainly fast<br />

moving goods. According to her, the plight of<br />

the workers at what is Botswana’s fastest growing<br />

grocery chain store was exacerbated by widespread<br />

ignorance of the law and rights among them,<br />

inspite of many of the employees being holders of<br />

BGCSE. As Konopo points out, in a country where<br />

the instinct is to take unremitting advantage of<br />

workers, employers will exploit such ignorance to<br />

the full.<br />

“Labour laws are more effective if workers<br />

know their rights and speak out if their rights are<br />

violated,” she says. In her view, the government<br />

is also a part of the problem because under the<br />

law, workers must obtain permission of the police<br />

to demonstrate while the Trade Disputes Act<br />

empowers employers to demand de-registration of<br />

unions.<br />

As an HR practitioner, she gets involved in<br />

a good deal of mediation, which she defines as<br />

helping people understand their own conflicts. In<br />

the process, she reveals an often obscured view<br />

that pursuing a matter may prove detrimental<br />

to the employee. “Thankfully, most people come<br />

to appreciate this soon enough and abandon the<br />

potentially treacherous path because they know<br />

how to resolve their own conflicts,” Konopo<br />

explains.<br />

“It is really just a matter<br />

of listening to them<br />

and understanding the<br />

mechanisms in place to<br />

resolve conflicts.”<br />

She may be familiar with the abject lot that the<br />

working-class woman has been reduced to, yet<br />

she holds out hope for the attainment of equal<br />

pay for equal work for women which she believes<br />

will eventually come to pass. “It is as inevitable as<br />

establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth,”<br />

she says with a sigh. “The means to that end - in<br />

both symbolic and literal sense – will entail the<br />

voice and the vote for women. When that happens,<br />

it will be the culmination of Universal Suffrage and<br />

consummation of ‘Thy Kingdom Come.’”<br />

22<br />

Rethabile Konopo<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017


Because anything can happen...<br />

even when on the lookout<br />

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www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017 23


IN CAREER<br />

Stanbic Stalwarts Rewarded<br />

From Motshwari Sekgabo’s “deadly Yellow Belt punch” to the Star Performer in Sarah Sekgabi, Stanbic Bank was the<br />

‘Guardian of the Galaxy’ when it recently celebrated 25 years with employees who have been with the bank from Day<br />

One. As inBusiness’ MALEBOGO RATLADI reports, it is a matter of conjecture which way they went because when<br />

ordinary folks are flush with cash, they smile all the way to the bank<br />

ANASTASIA MOTSUMI<br />

I joined the bank 25 years ago as<br />

a young woman who knew close<br />

to nothing about banking and its<br />

products or customer service. But<br />

because I have been deployed<br />

to various departments over the<br />

years, I have and acquired a wealth<br />

of knowledge and skills without<br />

interruption. I have developed myself<br />

by attending various courses within the<br />

bank and studied with the Botswana Institute<br />

o f Bankers up to the final stage of Botswana Institute<br />

of Bankers Associates Stage II. I cannot say it has been an<br />

easy journey, having to deal with and manage people from<br />

different backgrounds and cultures. Even so, I consider<br />

myself competent in people skills, especially when I look<br />

back over the past 25 years and find that there is much to<br />

celebrate. I now look forward to the next 25 years of moving<br />

the country forward with the Blue Team.<br />

SARAH SETLHABI<br />

I am a true Stanbic Banker<br />

of 25 years’ experience. I<br />

have moved through the<br />

ranks of Branch Manager,<br />

Accounts Officer, Officer–<br />

in–Charge (Corporate<br />

Banking<br />

Division),<br />

Manager’s Clerk and Signing<br />

Officer. I am grateful for the<br />

training and exposure that Stanbic<br />

Bank<br />

Botswana has afforded me over the years. Since June<br />

20<strong>13</strong>, I hold the position of Regional Manager (Personal<br />

and Business Banking). I am proud to share that I hold<br />

an Associate Diploma in Banking Stage I through the<br />

Botswana Institute of Bankers, the Botswana Institute<br />

Administration of Commerce’s Intermediate Diploma<br />

in Secretarial Studies, and Certificates in Business<br />

Administration, Database Management and Project<br />

Management through ABE, CAB and BNPC respectively.<br />

I have twice been nominated Branch Manager of the<br />

Year, having exceptionally served the Gaborone and<br />

Francistown markets. I am also the recipient of the Star<br />

Performer Award for Retail Banking for 2005.<br />

MOTSHWARI SEKGABO<br />

I joined the bank in January 1992<br />

as a teller. Our training was done<br />

at Stanbic in Mmabatho. Union<br />

Bank at the time opened its<br />

doors at what is now Broadhurst<br />

Branch. In the course of the<br />

year I moved to the new branch<br />

at G-West. I got transferred to<br />

the Francistown Branch in 1995<br />

where I understudied the Branch<br />

Administrator who was a South African. I<br />

ran the branch’s administration for two years before<br />

returning to Gabs to join the Ops team as a Routine Control<br />

Officer. My first managerial appointment was in 1999 when<br />

I was appointed Assistant Operations Manager, covering<br />

Ops support that included cash management, processing,<br />

clearing and settlements. I joined the bank with a DABS<br />

(Diploma in Accounting and Business Studies) and am today<br />

proud to say I am an Associate from the Botswana Institute<br />

of Bankers, a Bachelor of Finance degree holder from the<br />

University of Botswana and Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt<br />

(LSSYB) from Juran Consulting and Training. I look back on<br />

the years and marvel at the transformation that the bank has<br />

undergone, from a one-branch bank to where we are today.<br />

I stand tall as a part of the journey of Stanbic Bank Botswana.<br />

I propose a toast to the next 25 and beyond!<br />

24<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017


BAAGI MOTAOSANE<br />

It’s a worthy milestone;<br />

an achievement of note.<br />

I look back with pride<br />

because I have had a share<br />

in the growth of this bank.<br />

I feel honoured that I am a<br />

recognised founding pillar of<br />

SBBL. I served the bank’s first<br />

customer as a young man in<br />

my early 20s in Broadhurst. It’s<br />

been a long journey, but as the<br />

Chinese adage says, ‘A journey of<br />

thousand miles begins with a single step,” we have<br />

made it from one branch in 1992 to 10 branches in 2017;<br />

from 24 staff then to 600 plus today. I came in as a young<br />

man but I am now a proud father and homeowner, thanks<br />

to Stanbic Bank Botswana Limited. I have represented this<br />

bank internationally on various UATs aimed at improving<br />

our products and customer service. I’m here today and<br />

will be here tomorrow because prospects look bright<br />

here at Stanbic!<br />

Stanbic Botswana:<br />

A Brief History<br />

LETTY WEDU MAPHANE<br />

I started out as a 30-year old<br />

general clerk at Stanbic’s<br />

Vehicle Asset Finance 25<br />

years ago. I have been<br />

through various units and<br />

departments of Stanbic, who<br />

were my second employer.<br />

I work as a Recoveries<br />

Officer responsible for<br />

written off account collections at<br />

present. It’s been an invaluable<br />

experience learning on the job from<br />

various experts locally and internationally. I have been<br />

to Mafikeng and Johannesburg for training and acquired<br />

a Botswana Institute of Bankers Associate Diploma here<br />

at home. I am proud and honoured to be one of Stanbic<br />

Bank Botswana’s pioneers and I shall forever be grateful to<br />

be associated with the brand that moves customers and<br />

communities forward.<br />

ALBERT MAPOSA<br />

•Union Bank Botswana Ltd is incorporated as a subsidiary<br />

of Standard Bank Investment Corporation (SBIC) in 1991.<br />

•Stanbic Bank starts trading as Union Bank in Botswana at<br />

Broadhurst on March 2, 1992 with 24 staff, incl<br />

uding expatriates, under the leadership of Dave Brown.<br />

•Richard Flattery is the first Brach member of Stanbic<br />

bank. The first branch was Broadhurst Branch and was<br />

located at Broadhurst Industrial Estate on Legolo Road.<br />

•SBIC acquires ANZ Holdings, including equity control<br />

of ANZ Grindleys banks in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kenya,<br />

Botswana, Uganda and Zaire (now the DRC) in 1992.<br />

•ANZ Gridleys Botswana acquires Union Bank of<br />

Botswana Ltd for P10m and assumes the name “Union<br />

bank of Botswana Ltd” in 1992.<br />

•All operations of ANZ are brought into the Stanbic Bank<br />

fold and the Union Bank of Botswana Ltd is re-branded as<br />

Stanbic Bank of Botswana Ltd in 1993.<br />

•Stanbic Bank has had five Managing Directors, being<br />

Dave Brown, Neil McLeman, Walter Price, Dennis<br />

Kennedy and the current CEO, Leina Gabaraane, who is a<br />

Motswana.<br />

•The Lean Six Sigma Certification deals with management<br />

approach to business performance and strategy. It has<br />

levels that are named as karate belt grading. Motshwari<br />

Sekgabo obtained the Yellow Belt in 2016.<br />

I became a member of<br />

Stanbic Botswana through<br />

ANZ Grindlays Bank Africa<br />

Operations in 1992 after I joined<br />

ANZ Grindlays Bank Botswana<br />

in November 1991. At the time<br />

the two banks merged, Stanbic<br />

Bank Botswana of today was called<br />

Union Bank of Botswana Ltd. I started<br />

out in Stanbic’s Treasury Department which dealt<br />

with retail forex, forex deals and back office functions. I was the<br />

only Motswana in a team of four members. Fast forward to today,<br />

and I marvel at my movement through the ranks by means of<br />

training courses, contributing to the bank’s growth and success.<br />

I currently hold the post of Operations Project Manager. It has<br />

been a great honour and privilege to be a member of the Blue<br />

Team.<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017 25


ENGAGE WOMEN<br />

Norman Moleele<br />

Coco Chanel Features Big in WIBA<br />

Programme<br />

Although a key denizen of European Haute Monde, the famous French Fashion and Beauty<br />

Outfit knows how to extend a Helping Hand to the Third World. The programme it sponsored<br />

was so successful that it is being replicated for the greater benefit of women, writes<br />

MALEBOGO RATLADI<br />

The first PSDP mentorship programme for<br />

WIBA has been so successful that a similar<br />

one is due course to be implemented<br />

under a new Memorandum of Agreement,<br />

inBusiness has established.<br />

The Private Sector Development<br />

Programme (PSDP) devised and<br />

implemented the first Women<br />

Entrepreneurship Programme (WED)<br />

Programme in collaboration with Women<br />

in Business (WIBA) in May 20<strong>13</strong>, a threeyear<br />

programme that ended in June last<br />

year.<br />

Thirty-five women participated in the<br />

programme, 30 of them WIBA members.<br />

The same group is targeted for the repeat<br />

programme, even though the current PSDP<br />

is coming to an end this month (June).<br />

WED was aimed at unlocking the<br />

potential of women-owned businesses by<br />

providing support in capacity building and<br />

linkages in finance and markets.<br />

The Coordinator for WIBA, Boikanyo<br />

Koitsiwe, told inBusiness Magazine ahead<br />

of the signing of the MoU on May 10 that<br />

the mentorship programme saw some of its<br />

beneficiaries go on benchmarking trips to<br />

external markets while others crafted and<br />

presented funding proposals by themselves.<br />

“Generally, the aim of this mentorship<br />

programme was to give women the ability<br />

to compete effectively in the identified<br />

value chain, as well look outward for<br />

external markets,” he said, adding that<br />

as an intermediary, WIBA would like all<br />

of its members to benefit from the WED<br />

programme.<br />

At the signing of the MoU, the Director<br />

of PSDP Norman Moleele explained that<br />

the new programme would emphasise<br />

networking and entail more benchmarking<br />

missions.<br />

26<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017


Nametso Carr<br />

“Inspite of the PSDP programme<br />

coming to an end this month, we have<br />

entered into a MoU with WIBA to extend<br />

our affiliation.” He explained that women<br />

entrepreneurs who are WIBA members<br />

would be the primary beneficiaries of the<br />

next PSDP (WED) programme for which<br />

funding is being sought.<br />

Signing on behalf of WIBA, the<br />

organisation’s Vice President Nametso Carr<br />

was so delighted that she expressed a desire<br />

for the ‘wedding’ between PSDP and WIBA<br />

to last forever.<br />

PSDP is a government initiative<br />

supported by the Ministry of Investment,<br />

Trade and Industry, the European Union<br />

and the Centre for the Development of<br />

Enterprises (CDE). Other intermediary<br />

organisations involved in the mentorship<br />

programme are Business Botswana,<br />

HATAB, BNPC, LEA and BOBS.<br />

The first WED programme was<br />

financed by Chanel Corporate Foundation,<br />

the corporate social responsibility arm<br />

of famous French fashion and beauty<br />

company Coco Chanel, to the tune of<br />

€340 000 (approximately P4 million) and<br />

executed by CDE under the auspices of<br />

PSDP. The programme was transferred to<br />

Business Botswana for implementation<br />

in November 2015 following the orderly<br />

closure of CDE in March 2016.<br />

Pictures: Baagedi Setlhora<br />

The enchanted world of<br />

COCO CHANEL<br />

Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco” Chanel (19 August 1883 – 10 January<br />

1971 was a French fashion designer and businesswoman. She<br />

was the founder and namesake of the Chanel brand. Along with<br />

Paul Poiret, Chanel was credited in the post-World War I era<br />

with liberating women from the constraints of the “corseted silhouette”<br />

and popularizing a sporty, casual chic as the feminine standard of<br />

style. A prolific fashion creator, Chanel extended her influence beyond<br />

couture clothing, realising her design aesthetic in jewellery, handbags,<br />

and fragrance. Her signature scent, Chanel No. 5, has become an iconic<br />

product. She is the only fashion designer listed on TIME magazine’s list<br />

of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century Chanel designed<br />

her iconic interlocked-CC monograph, meaning Coco Chanel, using it<br />

since the 1920s.<br />

Chanel was known for her lifelong determination, ambition, and<br />

energy which she applied to her professional and social life. She<br />

achieved both financial success as a businesswoman and catapulted to<br />

social prominence in French high society, thanks to the connections she<br />

made through her work. These included many artists and craftspeople to<br />

whom she became a patron.<br />

Her social connections appeared to encourage a highly conservative<br />

personal outlook. Rumors arose about Chanel’s activities in the course<br />

of the German occupation of France during World War II, and she<br />

was criticised for being too comfortable with the Germans but never<br />

thoroughly investigated. One of Chanel’s lovers was a German military<br />

officer, Hans Gunther von Dincklage. After the war ended, Chanel was<br />

interrogated about her relationship with von Dincklage, but she was<br />

not charged as a collaborator. After several years in Switzerland after<br />

the war, she returned to Paris and revived her fashion house. In 2011,<br />

Hal Vaughan published a book on Chanel based on newly declassified<br />

documents of that era, revealing that she had collaborated with Germans<br />

in intelligence activities. One plan in late 1943 was for her to carry an SS<br />

separate peace overture to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to<br />

end the war<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017 27


YOUTH INBUSINESS<br />

Rosewell Chauffeurs:<br />

When Etiquette is of the<br />

Essence<br />

The young woman behind Rosewell Chauffeurs has such grit that she counts good old Uncle<br />

Bob, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, among her clients. But her geriatric responsibilities proven,<br />

she is spreading her wings further to establish Gem Driven in South Africa, an outfit doubtless<br />

named with Botswana’s economic mainstay in mind<br />

Words: Ononofile Lonkokile<br />

Pictures: Baagedi Setlhora<br />

28<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017


Travelling as an individual and<br />

as an entrepreneur has benefits<br />

that allow one to broaden<br />

one’s horizons and experience<br />

diverse sceneries. Founder of<br />

Rosewell Chauffeurs, Sukoluhle<br />

Mafika, attests to this and reminisces about her<br />

first flight to the UK that she says was more<br />

than an eye-opener, hence she treasures the<br />

experience to this day. She vividly remembers<br />

how everything was at her disposal and how<br />

time was highly respected.<br />

Now armed with a Master’s degree in<br />

Human Geography (majoring in Geographical<br />

Information Systems) from the University<br />

of Leeds, these experiences shaped the<br />

entrepreneur that Mafika is today that she<br />

highly recommends travelling for budding<br />

entrepreneurs. She returned to the country in<br />

2011 and worked for GeoFlux a Geographical<br />

Information Systems Consultant before<br />

striking it out on her own by establishing<br />

Rosewell Chauffer Services in 20<strong>13</strong> where<br />

she became a cab driver for a year, gaining<br />

invaluable first-hand experience of operations<br />

and the market.<br />

In the same year, Mafika approached CEDA<br />

for a loan. However, it took considerable<br />

persuasion on her part to convince the<br />

empowerment agency that her business was<br />

viable and worthy of funding. Rosewell is<br />

about executive transport and was something<br />

of a novelty in Botswana when she started,<br />

hence the initial reluctance at CEDA. The<br />

idea was born of a rather unpleasant personal<br />

experience.<br />

She explains: “I called a cab to fetch me from<br />

work to my place. After booking the cab a day<br />

in advance, it delayed for hours on end. Mind<br />

you, this is on a day that I was working half-day<br />

and so had planned to do other things with the<br />

rest of the day. When the cab finally arrived,<br />

the driver was completely unconcerned and<br />

carried on with his colleagues on his twoway<br />

radio while the loud music was causing a<br />

cacophony in the entire estate. That’s where the<br />

idea for my business came from. I suppose it is<br />

the proverbial silver lining.”<br />

The experience taught her that etiquette and<br />

customer service must define everything in her<br />

business. Because her cabbies - both men and<br />

women – understand this essential element,<br />

they are distinguished by their well-pressed<br />

uniform, outstanding civility and eloquence<br />

of expression in both Setswana and English.<br />

There is greater emphasis on the latter for<br />

the reason that most clients – up to 90% - are<br />

foreigners. “Personal hygiene and appearance<br />

are a part of deal,” says Mafika.<br />

“But much more important<br />

is being conversant with<br />

current affairs. Afterall,<br />

conversation without<br />

information becomes just<br />

so much bluster.”<br />

But if decorum is highly valued at Rosewell<br />

Chauffeurs, safety is even more so because in<br />

the proprietor’s view, the value of human life<br />

is beyond any measure. Hence her cabbies<br />

routinely and regularly undergo training in<br />

defensive driving. And then the inevitable – if<br />

naughty – question arises: Are there ‘extras?’<br />

After giving yours truly an eyeful, Mafika’s<br />

expression takes on a sombre aspect before she<br />

enunciates her answer: “We are in the business<br />

of transport. Executive transport. It is strictly<br />

transport. Our drivers are men and women<br />

of upright character. It is our pre-condition<br />

to be clean in all respects, including clean of<br />

criminal record.”<br />

At present, Rosewell Chauffeurs has a fleet<br />

of eight vehicles. The Mercs<br />

and BMWs are for executive<br />

clients while the company<br />

uses top notch Corollas for<br />

cab services, usually for<br />

long-term clients. The cars<br />

are not branded because<br />

most clients value their<br />

privacy, which they regard<br />

as an essential part of the<br />

security.<br />

Mafika and her Rosewell<br />

Chauffeurs are riding the<br />

crest of the wave at present<br />

because they count none<br />

other than Kenyan President<br />

Uhuru Kenyatta and the indefatigable Uncle<br />

Bob, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe,<br />

among their impressive list of clients. With<br />

a branch at the Diamond Trading Park in<br />

Gaborone, Botswana’s diamond industry<br />

accounts for a major share of Rosewell’s<br />

market, with Lucara, Okavango Diamonds and<br />

Be Beers itself regular customers. Branches<br />

at the Grand Palm and Masa are for the<br />

convenience of the well-heeled guests at these<br />

upmarket hotels.<br />

Meanwhile, diamonds being the mainstay<br />

of Botswana’s economy, Mafika became the<br />

country’s subtle ambassador and commercial<br />

attaché when she joined forces with Lebo<br />

Gunguluza, the South African millionaire<br />

entrepreneur, to open a chauffeuring business<br />

in the neighbouring country that she styled<br />

Gem Driven in July last year. She plans to<br />

launch a mobile app before this year is out<br />

so her clients may reach her at the touch of<br />

the button. The app will include a concierge<br />

service for parents to have their children and/<br />

or groceries picked up and delivered. Rosewell<br />

Chauffeurs currently has an online present at<br />

www.rosewellchauffeurs.co.bw for bookings.<br />

Although she describes herself as a cautious<br />

spender, Mafika admits to being fond of the<br />

finer things in life. Her splendidly luxurious<br />

office at the Diamond Park bears this out. And<br />

while she is not a fitness fanatic, the 33-year<br />

old mother of one is a regular at a Gaborone<br />

spa where she goes “to recharge and get<br />

rejuvenated”. For an only child, she works hard<br />

because she says she had to prove that she was<br />

not a spoiled brat.<br />

.<br />

. . . . . .<br />

ACCOMODATION: 11 standard double, 2 executives,17 standard twins, All rooms<br />

equiped with T<br />

fridge,laundry services,WIFI-internet<br />

OUTSIDE CATERING CASINO CONFERENCING DINING CORPORATE EVENTS SWIMMING POOL<br />

Reservations Email: reservations@thakaduhotel.co.bw<br />

Sales Email: sales@thakaduhotel.co.bw<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017 29


ENTREPRISE<br />

Of Sacred Cows and Holy Men:<br />

the Story of PK Leathergoods<br />

It makes for dramatic irony that Botswana being a land of more cattle than<br />

people, the country’s fledgling leather industry should have to import its key<br />

input<br />

Words: Malebogo Ratladi<br />

Back in 2014, the incumbent<br />

MP for Lobatse, Sadique<br />

Kebonang, spoke of an<br />

elaborate vision in which the<br />

town famous for meat and<br />

mental health would have a<br />

multi-faceted and self-sufficient leather<br />

park where skins would come off animals<br />

as they were slaughtered straight into a<br />

treatment plant before being supplied to<br />

factories in situ for the manufacture of a<br />

variety of leather products.<br />

If the inexplicable absence of such an<br />

industry is forgiven, the pledge made<br />

perfect sense even as a campaign<br />

issue. Afterall, here was a candidate<br />

with the advantage of youth and who,<br />

being a man of letters, was presumably<br />

sufficiently well-read to appreciate what<br />

was needed to transform Lobatse from<br />

a one-street dorpie on what looked<br />

like a permanent brink of decay into a<br />

flourishing free trade zone, an aspect<br />

that has also been mooted.<br />

Lobatse’s potential consisted in the<br />

town being the historic headquarters<br />

of the country’s beef industry where up<br />

to 8 000 cattle and 500 small stock can<br />

be handled per day at an integrated<br />

complex that includes an abattoir, a<br />

cannery and a tannery. On the surface of<br />

things, establishment of the envisaged<br />

leather park may entail a weaning of the<br />

small scale tannery from the major plant<br />

of the Botswana Meat Commission where<br />

it has never been on an industrial scale to<br />

the winning site where there should be<br />

surplus production sufficient for export.<br />

But lo and behold, after much ado in<br />

30<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017


studies and reports, Kebonang’s pledge<br />

has turned vacuous in the fashion of the<br />

pipe dreams of many a politician, wellmeaning<br />

and otherwise. It is hardly the<br />

stuff of psychotherapy for the ‘inmates’<br />

at Sbrana Mental Hospital for whom<br />

Lobatse is also famous.<br />

Even so, the vacuum has not deterred<br />

everyone. In a tale of two nations and<br />

genders, Portia Oaitse of Botswana and<br />

Kudakwashe Munyarari of Zimbabwe had<br />

registered PK Leathergoods, a company<br />

in secondary manufacture of leather<br />

goods, in 20<strong>13</strong> and have not allowed<br />

the delayed inauguration of Kebonang’s<br />

leather park to have a deleterious<br />

effect on their work. “It is ‘secondary<br />

manufacture’ because we design<br />

processed leather into finished products<br />

like bags, jackets and belts,” says Oaitse.<br />

Pertunia Mnkandla and Portia Oaitse<br />

“But we have to import<br />

the leather. Why should<br />

we have to import<br />

leather when the story of<br />

Botswana is the story of<br />

more cattle than men? Is<br />

this our version of ‘Sacred<br />

Men and Holy Cows?’”<br />

Pictures: Baagedi Setlhora<br />

The latter is an idiom whose figurative<br />

meaning refers to something that can<br />

neither be questioned nor criticised.<br />

While the adage is thought to originate<br />

in the lofty place that cattle enjoy in<br />

Hindu society, cattle are also venerated<br />

in Setswana in which a poem refers to<br />

such a domesticated beast as a “softnosed<br />

God” (Modimo o’ nko e metsi)<br />

and where cattle confer an elevated<br />

status to the one who owns them in large<br />

numbers.<br />

But because there are no sacred men<br />

and holy cows in a democratic society,<br />

Oaitse is free to raise the question.<br />

Hence she does, and so in the year that<br />

Kebonang was making his pledge on the<br />

campaign trail, she and Munyarari invited<br />

another Zimbabwean, Petunia Mnkandla,<br />

to join them because they needed her<br />

design, sewing and marketing skills.<br />

“She fit in well because her given name,<br />

Petunia, shares the ‘P’ in the company<br />

name with my given own name, Portia,”<br />

Oaitse explains, clearly delighting in the<br />

little serendipity.<br />

inBusiness is speaking with them at<br />

their workshop in Tlokweng. “I met<br />

Kudakwashe (Munyarai) at the open<br />

market at Extension 14 in 2012 when<br />

I went to buy school uniform for my<br />

child,” Oaitse continues. A conversation<br />

with Munyarari about the goods on<br />

display in his small workshop solicited<br />

the advice that she could train under<br />

the government’s Nyeletso Lehuma<br />

initiative (poverty elimination) through<br />

which “people are taken for training at<br />

institutions of their choice”.<br />

Being unemployed, Oaitse took the<br />

advice of her new acquaintance and was<br />

soon undergoing training at Morongwa<br />

Stores in Gaborone. Fat-track to today<br />

and we hear of a small business that is<br />

trying to diversify its product range and<br />

animal skins. Mnkandla picks up the cue:<br />

“When time and money allow it, we go<br />

to Zimbabwe to buy ostrich, elephant<br />

and crocodile leather to spice things up<br />

a bit.”<br />

Because they cannot re-invent the<br />

wheel, the threesome finds inspiration<br />

in existing designs and adds its own<br />

touch to them. But it is in custom designs<br />

that PK Leathergoods makes a distinct<br />

mark. The company participates in the<br />

annual Women’s Expo and never misses<br />

out on the monthly Bull ‘n Bush market,<br />

the Pop Up market and the Stock Men’s<br />

Option. Yet Oaitse describes the market<br />

as “unfriendly.” That is because she<br />

and her partners have to contend with<br />

an unusual kind of credibility issues.<br />

She believes that there is a strong link<br />

between her failure to win prizes at<br />

trade fairs and widespread incredulity<br />

among people who matter, judges<br />

included, that Batswana are capable of<br />

quality designs and products. “Especially<br />

leather products,” she says. “There is this<br />

massive wall of incredulity.”<br />

Another problem is the ‘swansong’ of<br />

SMEs: funding. Applications to CEDA,<br />

the Ministry of Gender Affairs and other<br />

funding organisations have turned up a<br />

blank for PK Leathergoods. But Oaitse<br />

and her partners still hold out the hope<br />

that MP Sadique Kebonang’s campaign<br />

pledge will come into fruition one day<br />

because a leather park would make all<br />

the difference for them. “I believe he<br />

is well-placed to influence things as<br />

Minister of Mineral Resources, Green<br />

Technology and Energy,” she says.<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017 31


TOURISM<br />

Room50Two: an Astral<br />

Experience on Terra Firma<br />

To celebrate its opening recently, the management of the latest addition to the capital’s<br />

increasingly plush travel and leisure sector, Room 50Two, invited journalists to sample<br />

what’s in store for the discriminating guest at this ‘astral’ affair at Gaborone’s new CBD.<br />

inBusiness’ ONONOFILE LONKOKILE was among them<br />

32<br />

01<br />

02<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017<br />

Sheer contentment, sensations of<br />

deja vu about something good but<br />

elusive, a lifting up of the senses<br />

and a whole gamut of feelings are<br />

what overtook me when I saw the<br />

view from the 28th floor of newly<br />

opened hotel, Room 50Two. Breathtaking…<br />

As though the entire capital city of Botswana<br />

had conspired with the lights of the city - now<br />

a mystic, gentle haze - to transport me to<br />

destinations unknown.<br />

A colleague even remarked that we could be<br />

on the threshold to a 21st Century Edenic<br />

Park.<br />

The whole city seemed to be on high definition<br />

and you could identify your own house<br />

and see that your neighbour had obliged you<br />

by switching on the lights! We then repaired<br />

to the uppermost room in the entire country,<br />

the quaintly-named Table 50Two, which,<br />

perched at the apex on the 28th floor, just<br />

sealed the deal on a night to remember for<br />

penumbral vistas of Botswana’s capital from<br />

the cosmos.<br />

This restaurant is a picture perfect al fresco<br />

affair ideal for hosting a dinner parties or that<br />

wedding engagement to build a dream on.<br />

The food was a delectable array of meats and<br />

starches. I tasted chicken lollipops (chicken<br />

winglets where the meat is cut loose from<br />

the bone end and pushed down to create the<br />

appearance of a lollipop) for the first time. My<br />

palate welcomed the crisp skin as my tongue<br />

hailed the marinade. It was the perfect a<br />

appetizer before I waded into the fish and the<br />

meatballs!<br />

The main course consisted of rice, at once<br />

spicy and savoury with a tinge of curry.<br />

The tender mutton stew came with steamed<br />

vegetables whose freshness was enhanced by<br />

herbs.<br />

Beyond the food, the décor - modern and chic<br />

- stood out for the colour schemes of bright<br />

couches and paintings on the walls. Contemporary.<br />

Cosmopolitan. Even cosmic, thanks<br />

to the ‘lofty’ standing of Table 50Two on the<br />

28th floor!<br />

But inspite of its name, the hotel boasts 54<br />

rooms. A spokesman of Overseas Development<br />

Enterprises, which also owns Travel


Pictures: Room50two<br />

Lodge and Trans Cash and Carry, told<br />

me it was about what sounded right, “and<br />

Room 50Two did”. The lodgings consist of<br />

36 standard rooms, 6 premium rooms and<br />

12 premium plus rooms that have balconies<br />

opening on vistas of the city. My room had<br />

the most amazing view. I stood at the window<br />

to take it all in, mulling over what a brilliant<br />

idea it was that Gaborone should have a new<br />

CBD. In the morning, the minute men at<br />

work at a nearby construction site made me<br />

look to the future with renewed confidence<br />

that the skyline of Gabs will become a galaxy<br />

in its own right. And when that comes to pass,<br />

Room 50Two will assert its outstanding stellar<br />

quality from the pride of place that it already<br />

occupies. Nay, it will become the ‘Guardian of<br />

the Galaxy!’<br />

The location of this hotel at iTowers South in<br />

the CBD is a good address that commands<br />

a special allure for the discerning business<br />

traveller and tourist. It is within a convenient<br />

distance to major points in Gaborone,<br />

especially Government Enclave just east; the<br />

train station, bus terminus and Rail Park Mall<br />

just north; and the civic centre, Gabs’ Main<br />

Mall, the Central Police Station and Princess<br />

Marina Referral Hospital further east. Guests<br />

of Room 50Two can be said to breathe the<br />

same air as justices of Gaborone High Court<br />

and the Industrial Court whose addresses<br />

are almost the same as this latest addition to<br />

Gaborone’s travel and leisure sector that has<br />

created 60 new jobs.<br />

At Room 50Two, the concierge is present<br />

24/7. This is in addition to wireless internet<br />

access, car parking with valet facilities, as<br />

well as airport transfer and laundry services,<br />

among others. There are several approaches<br />

to Room 50Two: from the south it is via New<br />

Lobatse Road and right after the intersection<br />

or from Nelson Mandela Drive onto Old<br />

Molepolole Road and two right turns after the<br />

intersection. Go there. An astral experience<br />

on terra firma awaits you.<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017 33


TOURISM<br />

Photography:extraordinaryjourneys.com<br />

34<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017


Stop or Gently Pass<br />

This is the World Tourism Destination No. 1<br />

Diversifying its tourism products means that Botswana is taking advantage of its Godgiven<br />

beauty in the multiplicity of its wildlife species that is hardly found anywhere else<br />

and tough terrain in the middle of which a parched palate and quenching thirst can take<br />

on a literal meaning, writes TUDUETSO TEBAPE<br />

Africa is a continent known for<br />

its wealth of natural resources,<br />

including flora and fauna. But<br />

perched high on southern Africa’s<br />

plateau, Botswana stands out as a<br />

microcosm of the rich endowment of the<br />

Mother Continent that must at once be<br />

enjoyed by contemporary generations<br />

and conserved for posterity. While<br />

obtaining and maintaining this delicate<br />

balance can be tricky, Botswana has<br />

found the equation and is looming large<br />

as a tourism destination because it is the<br />

ideal place to find a wide array of wildlife,<br />

most notably the Big Five.<br />

But underneath the stampeding<br />

hoofs of migrating hartebeest and<br />

herds of wildebeest, there is a shift of<br />

emphasis from wildlife tourism to a<br />

new - though almost always in support<br />

of conservation - brand of visitor to<br />

the country. Motorsport and adventure<br />

tourism are taking the country and the<br />

world by storm. Literally so because the<br />

gearshift often entails raising hell in the<br />

sand dunes of the Kgalagadi Desert in<br />

Botswana’s wild west.<br />

This shift - which is more of a<br />

diversification because the world will<br />

always fawn on the fauna – is spearheaded<br />

by the Ministry of the Environment,<br />

Natural Resources Conservation and<br />

Tourism in conjunction with Botswana<br />

Tourism Organisation (BTO) that directs<br />

marketing and promotion of Botswana<br />

as the destination of choice from tourists<br />

the world over.<br />

Considerable achievements have<br />

already been in this regard, with the<br />

country emerging the winner of the 2016<br />

World Tourism for Tomorrow award from<br />

the World Travel and Tourism Council.<br />

This has happened in the Destination<br />

Award category under which the world<br />

famous Okavango Delta, Makgadikgadi<br />

Salt Pans and Chobe National Park took<br />

the lead as winning destinations. It is<br />

significant that commitment to resource<br />

conservation and benefit to ordinary<br />

citizens are taken into consideration<br />

before these awards are conferred.<br />

“It my ministry’s role to ensure (that)<br />

these areas are carefully utilised to<br />

ensure (that) they are sustained to carry<br />

us into the future without losing their<br />

authenticity and value,” said tourism<br />

minister Tshekedi Khama at a recent<br />

media briefing in Gaborone.<br />

While the value of Botswana’s<br />

popularity as a wildlife tourism<br />

destination is established, the evercompetitive<br />

global tourism industry<br />

is putting pressure on the country to<br />

enhance its appeal by diversifying.<br />

The answer to this has been to ‘ride’<br />

on Toyota Desert Race and introduce<br />

a series of events aimed at attracting a<br />

new brand of tourist to the country while<br />

invigorating local participation.<br />

Said Minister Tshekedi at the media<br />

briefing: “BTO continues looking at ways<br />

through which to diversify the Botswana<br />

tourism product so as to reduce<br />

pressure from these natural resources<br />

while we grow tourism and increase<br />

revenue(s) drawn from the industry. It is<br />

because of this that we have embarked<br />

on diversifying our product through<br />

introduction of events-based tourism.”<br />

The latest of these events, the World’s<br />

Strongest Man, came to Botswana for<br />

the first time last month and itself took<br />

advantage of the synergy created by<br />

two pleasantly harsh motorsport events<br />

that are not for the faint-hearted, the<br />

gruelling Khawa Dune Challenge and the<br />

arduous Makgadikgadi Epic. These two -<br />

now firmly established international draw<br />

cards and still growing - were punctuated<br />

by another prime attraction of recent<br />

introduction, the Race for Rhinos whose<br />

name speaks volumes as a fundraiser for<br />

protection of the endangered species.<br />

Said Tshekedi, an enthusiast like no<br />

other: “Events-based tourism lends itself<br />

well to tourism diversification. We started<br />

with a few events and I can confidently<br />

say when we started, the idea was to<br />

inculcate the spirit of travel among locals.<br />

We see more locals attending the events<br />

nowadays with a noticeable interest in<br />

the regional market.”<br />

According to figures revealed by<br />

Tshekedi, these events are a shot<br />

in the arm for the economies of the<br />

communities that host them. “In Khawa<br />

alone, a comparison can be made<br />

between a normal weekend sales spend<br />

of an approximated P2.1 million to<br />

P5.6 million over the event weekend,”<br />

he said. “The event drew over 12 000<br />

spectators last year, which is up from<br />

6 000 in 2015 and 3 700 in 2014. The<br />

positive tourism effects are not only<br />

during the event weekend, with 42% of<br />

spectators interviewed during the event<br />

saying that they visit the area outside of<br />

the event itself.”<br />

The minister noted that during the<br />

Makgadikgadi Epic in 2015, Nata<br />

Conservation Trust received P70 300.<br />

The Gaing-o Community Trust, which<br />

manages Lekhubu where the Race for<br />

Rhinos was held, received P67 000<br />

in camping fees and gatetakings, as<br />

well as a donation of P47 000 last<br />

year. In earlier Race for Rhinos, the<br />

Tlhokomela Endangered Wildlife Trust<br />

received donations of P250 000 towards<br />

conservation while it received a donation<br />

for the capture, relocation and protection<br />

of 100 rhinos from Conservation 360.<br />

The stage is clearly set for Botswana to<br />

become the theatre for more motorsport<br />

and adventure tourism. In this regard,<br />

the country is simply taking advantage<br />

of its God-given beauty in its spectrum<br />

of wildlife species hardly seen anywhere<br />

else and tough terrain in the middle of<br />

which a parched palate and quenching<br />

thirst can take on a literal meaning.<br />

Those responsible have decided that the<br />

new chapter will feature motorsport and<br />

adventure tourism as never before.<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017 35


TOURISM<br />

SKL: From Germany with Tourists<br />

A lot has been shared about<br />

Botswana’s participation at ITB Berlin<br />

2017 where the country was an official<br />

partner-sponsor of what is widely<br />

regarded as the world’s leading travel<br />

trade show. However, little is known<br />

about Botswana tour operators who<br />

attended this prestigious exhibition<br />

where goers are promised “valuable<br />

first-hand knowledge through personal<br />

interactions with international<br />

professionals”, according to its<br />

website. In this Q and A, inBusiness’<br />

TUDUETSO TEBAPE speaks with<br />

Rachel who went to Berlin for the SKL<br />

Group for which she is Marketing<br />

Officer<br />

Q: Please give a brief<br />

description of SKL.<br />

A: The SKL group of camps operates public<br />

campgrounds in Botswana’s prime national<br />

parks, being the Chobe National Park,<br />

Moremi Game Reserve and Makgadikgadi<br />

National Park. We now also run two tented<br />

camps at the heart of the Chobe National<br />

Park. SKL was founded in 2010.<br />

Q: You were an exhibitor at<br />

ITB 2017. Kindly explain why<br />

you went to Berlin.<br />

A: Apart from the fact that Botswana was<br />

first the African partner-sponsor country,<br />

there are quite a few reasons why we were<br />

exhibiting at the 2017 ITB. But ultimately our<br />

main focus was and is always to market our<br />

products. Through attending such big scale<br />

travel fairs, one learns from others in the industry,<br />

sees what they are doing and how one<br />

can incorporate what might work for one.<br />

Q: Was it the first time you<br />

were in the ITB?<br />

A: No. We have been attending the ITB since<br />

20<strong>13</strong>. So it has been four years in a row. You<br />

need to keep the consistency of your brand<br />

and product so people trust in your products.<br />

I shouldn’t forget the most important thing,<br />

which is to build a better relationship with<br />

European tour operators.<br />

Q: What benefit to SKL does<br />

exhibiting at ITB have?<br />

A: It is all in the exposure. The more we<br />

attend such fairs, the more people get to familiarise<br />

themselves with our brand. They will<br />

definitely remember the company brand as<br />

it imprints on their minds every year. Should<br />

someone else ask where one can do camping<br />

in Botswana, SKL will pop up in answer.<br />

Q: Have you started to reap<br />

any benefits from your<br />

exhibiting at the ITB?<br />

A: To be honest, reaping the benefits from<br />

any marketing fair takes time. You have to<br />

nurture it. I would describe it like a growing<br />

plant. You have to feed it with nutrients, water<br />

it and give it light so you can see the fruits it<br />

will bear. And for it to bear those fruits takes<br />

time. However, from where we stand today,<br />

we are definitely seeing benefits. The tourism<br />

sector has a different approach to its marketing<br />

strategies. When you market your product<br />

in 2017, it means you are prepping yourself<br />

for better sales in 2018. The reason is that one<br />

has to plan for a holiday destination well in<br />

advance.<br />

Q:What assistance, if<br />

any, did you receive<br />

from Botswana Tourism<br />

Organisation at this year’s<br />

ITB?<br />

A: First of all, I would like to salute the Botswana<br />

Tourism Organisation for all that they<br />

have done for us in the industry. The organisation<br />

paves the way for tour operators to be<br />

able to penetrate such markets, thus providing<br />

us with a massive platform to showcase the<br />

different destinations in our country. BTO’s<br />

being there all the time to facilitate shows<br />

their commitment to their mandate.<br />

Q: What sort of expenses are<br />

incurred by a company to<br />

attend the ITB?<br />

A: As a business, marketing costs quite a bit<br />

and all costs to attend such a show are incurred<br />

by the company. One has to look at the<br />

logistics of paying for a representative’s flights,<br />

accommodation, food and transport while in<br />

Europe. This is in addition exhibiting fees.<br />

Q: What advice can you give<br />

other tour operators who<br />

may want to go to the ITB?<br />

A: Talking from experience, attending such<br />

fairs works. Not only do you expand your<br />

agency scope. As I mentioned before, the<br />

more one attends the more agents get to know<br />

more about one’s products. We also interact<br />

with other companies to see how we can<br />

improve ourselves. That is why I would like us<br />

to attend again next year.<br />

36<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017


www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017 37


FOOD<br />

38<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017


At Lunch with a Foodie<br />

Words: Tuduetso Tebape<br />

Photography: Baagedi Setlhora<br />

For this edition’s Food Section, inBusiness Mazine<br />

visited Musa Mhlasi’s kitchen to get up close and<br />

personal with Food-With-A-Foodie, Mhlasi’s<br />

company that offers catering and private chef<br />

services. While the catering industry is quite<br />

vibrant, Food-With-A-Foodie is unique in its<br />

positioning because Mhlasi’s is the complete<br />

foodie’s brand.<br />

Foodie, of course, being a term used to describe<br />

someone who is very passionate about food. It’s<br />

actually a way of life for such people. Usually selftaught,<br />

they are knowledgeable about food.<br />

Mhlasi is certainly a foodie, resigning from full<br />

time employment to pursue his passion for food<br />

and turning it into a business venture as well. We<br />

asked the proprietor of Food-With-A-Foodie if we<br />

could be present while he did what he does best -<br />

prepare food. He gladly agreed for us to see him<br />

in full view as he went about his labour of love.<br />

Which we did, chatting him up in the process.<br />

What a privilege! Mhlasi followed a quick and<br />

simple recipe to make spaghetti bolognaise.<br />

Here are the steps he took to prepare the meal.<br />

Steps, by the way, that he does not mind you<br />

following at home.<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017 39


TECHNOLOGY<br />

Nokia 3310: The Retro Darling<br />

Returns to Life<br />

Words: Raymond Moremi<br />

The chatters in the techno world are nothing but the<br />

truth. The Nokia 3310 has made a nostalgic return<br />

in the form of a more modern handset. Since news<br />

of its release broke earlier this year, the air has been<br />

abuzz with anticipation of the latter day version of the<br />

indestructible gadget that consumers were introduced to 17<br />

years ago.<br />

The iconic device has finally arrived, hitting the southern<br />

African market on May 30. Eager customers are already snapping<br />

up what is arguably the sturdiest, if now slicker, phone from select<br />

stores like MTN and Cell-C.<br />

It is expected that the user-friendly handset will reach<br />

Botswana from any time in mid-June. Much like its forerunner, the<br />

revamped phone is still called Nokia 3310 and runs an updated<br />

version of the S30 software of the prototype. The software mimics<br />

the behaviour of the original, throwing users into a delectable<br />

delusion of déjà vu in which time is indivisible.<br />

Like the prototype, it may not have WhatsApp but it has a web<br />

browser. It charges through a USB port and has a headphone<br />

socket. Perhaps the greatest appeal of this revamped phone is<br />

its battery life. While smart phones run out of gas faster than a<br />

bat can run out of hell, the standby time on the new 3310 is a<br />

whopping 31 days while it packs 22 hours of talk time! This is<br />

unheard of since the wheel was invented.<br />

Another notable difference is that the remake comes with with<br />

a colour screen, a camera and a price tag range of between P600<br />

and P700. At 80g it is lighter and slimmer. The dark blue of the<br />

prototype is maintained while a yellow-and-red glossy version is<br />

available for the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed customer.<br />

40<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017<br />

Figures indicate that Nokia has sold over 126 million of the<br />

original 3310 since it was launched in the Year 2000. Nokia was<br />

the ultimate ruler that remained popular until it was knocked off<br />

its lofty perch by the arrival of the iPhone and Samsung. Fastforward<br />

to 2017 and it seems nostalgic marketing of the ‘brick<br />

phone’ will ensure it claims a respectable place in the market.<br />

It may sound preposterous to think diehard devotees of Nokia<br />

3310 will give up their smart technology from brands like Huawei<br />

and Samsung, but budget bargains are always hard to ignore.<br />

That alone should be enough to drive meaningful sales.<br />

Eager customers - predictably mostly the 50 plus demographic<br />

- have HDM Global, the Nokia-branded phone makers, to thank<br />

for remembering them in this pleasant manner. HDM Global has<br />

such confidence of the market success of the return of the 3310<br />

that it refers to the doppelganger as “a classic re-imagined.”<br />

Said Shaun Durandt, HMD Global’s manager for southern Africa,<br />

recently: “HMD has received an incredible reception from our<br />

partners so far. It seems everyone shares our excitement for this<br />

next chapter. Our consumers are more discerning and demanding<br />

than ever before, and they’ll always come first. We’ve worked<br />

really hard with our teams around the world to bring together<br />

world-class manufacturers, operating systems and technology<br />

partners, enabling us to proudly start sales of the Nokia 3310, a<br />

classic re-imagined.”<br />

Indeed. Buy it for your granny or child. Even for yourself for<br />

emergencies. Afterall, the device has a web browser and the<br />

famous snake game. Significantly, it is Bluetooth-enabled. The<br />

modern doppelganger is awakening ethos of the turn of the<br />

century when durability still mattered. What a way to relive the<br />

Year 2000!


RE GO FA THUSO KA NAKO<br />

E O E TLHOKANG THATA.<br />

A o amegile mo kotsing ya koloi kana o itse mongwe o o<br />

amegileng mo kotsing ya koloi. MVA Fund e ka go thusa fela<br />

thata go go busetsa mo botsogong jo bo eletsegang.<br />

Re tlhaloganya thata seemo sa motho yo o amegileng mo kotsing ya koloi, re itse fa a tlhoka thuso ya potlako<br />

ebile e le maleba, ke moo re itlamileng go go fa thuso e e tshwanetseng mo nakong e e khutshwane.<br />

Mongwe le mongwe yo o amegileng mo kotsing ya koloi o ka bona dithuso tse di latelang:<br />

MEDICAL ASSISTANCE /<br />

THUSO YA BONGAKA<br />

E ke thuso e e fiwang ba<br />

ba bonyeng dikgobalo<br />

mo kotsing ya koloi.<br />

Maikaelelo magolo a<br />

thuso e ke go busetsa<br />

yo o gobetseng mo<br />

botsogong jo bo<br />

eletsegang. Re go thusa<br />

mo Oureng e le nngwe fa<br />

ele thuso ya potlako kana<br />

malatsi a le matlhano fa e<br />

se ya potlako.<br />

FUNERAL ASSISTANCE / THUSO YA<br />

DITSHENYEGELO Re go thusa mo di Oureng TSA tse di PHITLHO ferang bobedi<br />

A ke madi a a ntshiwang<br />

go thuso mo phitlhong ya<br />

motho yo o tlhokafetseng<br />

mo kotsing ya koloi.<br />

Madi a a ka se fete<br />

P7 500. Re go thusa<br />

mo di Oureng tse<br />

di ferang<br />

bobedi.<br />

LOSS OF EARNINGS / THUSO YA<br />

TATLHEGELO ITSHETSO<br />

Thuso e e fiwa ba<br />

dikgobalo tsa kotsi ya<br />

koloi di bakileng gore ba<br />

latlhegelwe ke pereko kana<br />

ba seka ba tlhola ba kgona<br />

go itshetsa. Re go thusa<br />

mo bekeng tse thataro.<br />

LOSS OF SUPPORT / THUSO YA<br />

BA BA LATLHEGETSWENG<br />

KE MOTLHOKOMEDI<br />

Thuso e e fiwa ba ba<br />

latlhegetsweng ke<br />

motlhokomedi mo kotsing<br />

ya koloi. E ka nna bana,<br />

batsadi, monna kana mosadi,<br />

kana mongwe le mongwe<br />

fela yo o ka supang gore<br />

one a tlhokomelwa ke<br />

moswi. Re go thusa<br />

mo kgweding tse<br />

pedi.<br />

MVA Fund Botswana<br />

Gaborone 3188533 •<br />

Rail Park Mall 3911180 •<br />

Francistown 2410670 •<br />

Maun 6861788 •<br />

Kang 6517124/1 •<br />

Palapye 4921022 •<br />

Selebi-Phikwe 2600275/63<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017 41


BOOK REVIEW<br />

Author Exposes<br />

the Heresy of<br />

19th Century<br />

Apartheid<br />

TITLE: Fiela’s Child<br />

AUTHOR: Dalene Mathee<br />

PUBLISHER: Penguin Book (1987)<br />

PAGES: 358<br />

BOOKSHOP: BSPCA Kgale<br />

A<br />

journey of self-discovery,<br />

love, tenacity and yearning<br />

for identity sum up the novel,<br />

Fiela‘s Child. The story is<br />

set in the forests of Knysna<br />

and in Long Kloof Village in 19th Century<br />

South Africa at a time when white power<br />

reigned supreme.<br />

It is based on Fiela Komoetie, a rural coloured<br />

woman who has adopted a 3-year<br />

old white child that she found crying on<br />

her doorstep one cold night. She names<br />

him Benjamin. Nine years later, two male<br />

census enumerators discover him and find<br />

it strange that Fiela should claim him as<br />

her own when she is coloured and he<br />

white.<br />

Emotions run high when they take Benjamin<br />

away to Knysna to check if he is not<br />

the long lost son of woodcutters there. The<br />

theory doesn’t make sense to Fiela because<br />

he found Benjamin when he was three<br />

years old, and travelling to Knysna using<br />

a cart takes two days. What more by foot!<br />

For a young boy he couldn’t have made it<br />

that far because the area is also infested<br />

with elephants.<br />

Benjamin, now 12, is taken to Knysna.<br />

He is anxious that that he may just belong<br />

to the woodcutters. As he gets to Knysna,<br />

Elias and Barta van Rooyen come and<br />

identify him as Lukas, their son who wandered<br />

off nine years before. The tone of<br />

white supremacy is clear when Benjamin<br />

is at the magistrate‘s office. He keeps on<br />

calling the magistrate “Master” inspite of<br />

being told him not to because he is white<br />

he doesn’t need to.<br />

Days go by and Fiela becomes stressed<br />

by the day while Benjamin cannot cope or<br />

adapt to his new family. But he hopes that<br />

Fiela will one day come back to reclaim<br />

him. His new pa, Elias van Rooyen, makes<br />

money out of making beams but it is never<br />

enough. He is depicted as an abusive man<br />

who punishes his children by whipping<br />

them with ox reins. He once cut his daughter‘s<br />

hair with a knife as punishment. The<br />

way he treats his wife is also mean, at times<br />

screaming at her and calling her names.<br />

Yet he loves her. There is a part at the<br />

beginning of the story where he lovingly<br />

stares at her and thinks to himself that<br />

she is beautiful. Barta van Rooyen is hardly<br />

heard, she being a submissive wife who<br />

agrees to all that her husband says and<br />

doesn’t want to ever engage in conversation<br />

with Benjamin. The peak of the story<br />

is when Benjamin, now 20, finally confronts<br />

Barta about if he is really their child.<br />

She breaks down and says he was not. Recalling<br />

the day that they were at the magistrate‘s<br />

office, she tell Benjamin how the<br />

census man had whispered to her before<br />

she got in that she should claim the one in<br />

the blue shirt as her own!<br />

Benjamin finally manages to escape to<br />

Long Kloof. To Fiela‘s surprise, he is no<br />

longer the young boy who used to cling to<br />

her. He has grown tall and handsome. But<br />

though he feels home, he is still confused<br />

regarding who he really is. The mystery of<br />

the story remains even after the last page<br />

because we do not know who Benjamin’s<br />

biological parents are.<br />

However, after much soul searching,<br />

he concludes that he should be known as<br />

Benjamin Komoetie. Maybe he is Fiela‘s<br />

gift from God, a refrain that she keeps<br />

returning to throughout the story. The<br />

novel is thought provoking and brings out<br />

the element of belonging and how much<br />

someone‘s background plays a major role<br />

in their existence.<br />

TINT BOULEVARD<br />

STOP<br />

ORIENTED SERVICES<br />

benmakhala@gmail.com<br />

42<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017


MUSIC REVIEW<br />

“YOU” - DJ IZZY FT ONTEFETSE, E.P.I.C &<br />

KAST<br />

MONATJE WA LERATO - FRESH LES FT BERRY<br />

HEART<br />

Jazz speaks all languages, especially the language of love.<br />

And whether you are a native speaker or not, the meaning<br />

of the heart is clear. Fresh Lesokwane and songstress<br />

Berry Heart vehemently show this in their collaboration<br />

on “Monatje Wa Lerato,” an exuberant urban jazz ride<br />

that is as artful as it is articulate and inspired. Wrapped<br />

in clever Sekgalagari lyrics in the midst of layers of jazzy<br />

instrumentation, this is a song that paints love as an<br />

invocation of hope and enables people to overcome<br />

anything in life. This duo makes a perfect combination for<br />

this jam that has a melody that is mellow, warm and inviting.<br />

The song is presented with a versatile Afro-jazz attitude<br />

blended with playful vocals, suggesting that a whole lot<br />

of fun was had during the recording. Lesokwane kicks in<br />

with the intro on the 0:21 mark, bringing a feel good and<br />

cozy-textured vocal that defines the smooth style of jazz.<br />

“Ke sebaka moratiwa / ke tsamaya lefatshe le / ke batla<br />

wena sthando sam,” he croons in the first verse. That is<br />

immediately before smoky, sultry fumes emanate from<br />

Berry Heart’s vocals in the second stanza like liquid fire.<br />

She stokes the embers in the verse with a velvety touch,<br />

especially on the 1:28 mark. The groove is really hot in this<br />

song. The chemistry is evident and I have no doubt the<br />

record will appeal to everyone from the casual listener to<br />

the discerning aficionado.<br />

Within four minutes and one second, “You” finds time to<br />

allow DJ IZZY to showcase his creative dexterity and prove<br />

he is one of the best artists in the local space. The track is<br />

a combination of raw talent, focus, commitment and joy<br />

while the guests featured in this hit song are as special as the<br />

music itself. Izzy is paired up with talented vocalist Ontefetse<br />

Osego who won Season 10 of My Star. Rounding out the bill<br />

are E.P.I.C and the history making Kast of the Tlatsa Lebala<br />

project. Izzy’s appetite for crowd-pleasing music is always as<br />

big, a factor that is on full display here. “You” contains the<br />

essential ingredients of a solid radio banger. Once the 30<br />

second mark passes and the beat and intro finally settle in,<br />

Ontefetse comes on hard with a syrupy vocal delivery that is<br />

rich with ambient textures and full-chest supplies. Lyrically,<br />

this song is a declaration of love and affection for someone<br />

truly special, and Ontefetse complements the message with<br />

colour-drenched vocal calisthenics that are also greatly felt in<br />

the chorus. The chorus, which is one of the highlights of the<br />

song, is adorned with a groovy melody and sing-along lyrics<br />

that are bound to stick in your head. In their own verses,<br />

E.P.I.C and Kast also come off like a winning insurance plan<br />

as they blend in to make the song tighter than a screw jar.<br />

Each individual component of Kast’s delivery has a distinctive<br />

flow that confirms as the star that he is. Elsewhere Bob Cartel<br />

proves his mettle with the way he handles the production<br />

of the song. Izzy has crafted an infectious mid-tempo<br />

soundtrack that is truly ahead of the curve.<br />

INCERTITUDE - KETZ JOHNSON<br />

“Incertitude” is a type of song that captures the true essence<br />

of the soulful house sound. Records like these should never<br />

be taken lightly because they are so rhythmic, so dramatic<br />

and so avant-garde. Ketz Johnson has carved for himself<br />

a tasteful formula that showcases his amazing depth and<br />

sophistication. This is such a silky and mesmerising track<br />

that also has a moody dance beat. It is about expressions of<br />

longing, affection and need for assurance in a relationship.<br />

The beat, the bass line and gentle percussive touches in the<br />

song make it easy for the lad to deliver a magisterial piece<br />

of vocal treasure. If you are a club DJ and are looking for<br />

music that could capsule your nights, this is the song for you.<br />

If you are looking for a song that takes hold of you from the<br />

beginning to the end, look no further than “Incertitude.” 3<br />

Experience it on a great sound system and you will surely be<br />

thrown onto the dance floor, willingly or otherwise.<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017 43


MOTORING<br />

The Audi RS6 Avant:<br />

An Expression of Passion for Performance<br />

• It Goes From 0 To 100km/h Within 3.9 seconds<br />

Words: Alpha Molatlhwe<br />

It has been more than 12 years<br />

of both passion for performance<br />

and unpolluted Vorsprung durch<br />

technik with the first iteration of<br />

the Audi RS6 Sedan having been<br />

introduced to southern Africa in<br />

2003 along with the second generation of<br />

the Audi A6. Sold in limited volumes, it<br />

featured a V8 4.2 litre Biturbo engine and<br />

Quattro technology and was blessed with<br />

a massive 331 kW of power output and<br />

580 Nm of torque competency.<br />

The second generation of the Audi<br />

RS6 was launched in 2008 along with<br />

the third generation Audi A6 and<br />

was equipped with a V10 5.0 Biturbo<br />

44<br />

powerplant producing 426 kW and 650<br />

Nm of torque aptitude. It was the single<br />

most powerful Audi ever built. Following<br />

the recent facelift to the Audi A6 range,<br />

the Audi RS6 Avant retains the character<br />

and legacy of its predecessors, offering<br />

refreshed styling and technology.<br />

It is more efficient, attractive and<br />

more sophisticated than ever but it still<br />

manages to convey the notion of passion<br />

for performance. Its exterior design<br />

architecture gives no illusion as to its<br />

performance and its significantly wider<br />

front and rear track, wider wheel arches<br />

when combined with a set of 21-inch<br />

wheels makes it simply unmistakable.<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017<br />

Along with its crushing performance,<br />

the RS6 can also be hugely practical with<br />

a large boot and flexible interior. Being<br />

a fully-fledged RS model, the RS6 Avant<br />

has wider wheel arches. RS specific front<br />

and rear bumper treatment, twin RS<br />

exhaust pipes and brushed aluminium<br />

exterior treatment elevate its sporting soul<br />

without losing its membership of the best<br />

high-performance machine available.<br />

Taking it on the highway, the driver<br />

has a maximum of 412 kW of power<br />

output on tap, which, in conjunction<br />

with an extraordinary 700 Nm of torque<br />

proficiency, makes for remarkable<br />

performance. Its ability to do away with


the 0 to 100 km/h business within an<br />

earth-shattering 3.9 seconds puts it<br />

on a par with super sports cars. This is<br />

thanks in no small part to the 8-speed<br />

tiptronic with its barely perceptible, yet<br />

rapid gearshifts and the standard Quattro<br />

drivetrain which uses a centre differential<br />

with a higher locking rate. Audi cylinder<br />

on demand technology in the 4.0-litre V8<br />

TFSI engine also ensures relatively low<br />

fuel consumption figure of just 9.8 l/100<br />

km. Pinnacle speed with the optional<br />

dynamic package plus is 305 km/h.<br />

The core component of the Quattro<br />

drivetrain in the Audi RS6 Avant is<br />

the self-locking centre differential.<br />

The basic configuration of the purely<br />

mechanical planetary gear set splits the<br />

drive torque asymmetrically between<br />

the front and rear axle to promote<br />

dynamic handling. Together with wheelselective<br />

torque control, it allows the<br />

drive force to be distributed individually<br />

to each wheel as the driving situation<br />

dictates. The standard Quattro Sport<br />

Differential enables the vehicle to turn<br />

into corners even more spontaneously.<br />

The continuously variable distribution of<br />

the drive torque between the rear wheels<br />

leads to a tangible increase in driving<br />

pleasure.<br />

Additionally, the standard RS adaptive<br />

air suspension combines air suspension<br />

with a continuously variable damper<br />

system to enhance the driving dynamics.<br />

As it is linked into the Audi drive select<br />

feature, the suspension can be customized<br />

across a range of characteristics. The<br />

benefits of this include a continuously<br />

adaptive damping system at all four<br />

wheels that automatically adapts to<br />

every driving situation in milliseconds.<br />

Damper control and ground clearance<br />

is adjusted, depending on which Audi<br />

drive select mode is chosen. The body is<br />

kept level at all times even when the car<br />

is unevenly loaded, thanks to permanent<br />

self-levelling. The RS sport suspension<br />

plus and Dynamic Ride Control (DRC) is<br />

also offered as an option. However, unlike<br />

the RS adaptive air suspension, steel coil<br />

springs are used, which leads to a firmer<br />

ride.<br />

Offering the same top-quality interior<br />

as the A6 sedan, travelling in the RS6<br />

Avant is as comfortable as it is sporty.<br />

High quality materials abound, while<br />

customers can choose to customise the<br />

interior to their heart’s content with<br />

Audi exclusive. A full list of standard<br />

equipment is included, offering a superb<br />

mix of technology and refinement.<br />

The Audi RS 6 Avant is also extremely<br />

practical, offering 565 litres of luggage<br />

capacity, which increases to 1 680 litres<br />

with the rear seats folded down. The<br />

optional dynamic package plus includes<br />

ceramic brakes, matrix beam headlights<br />

and sports suspension plus with DRC.<br />

There are also a wide range of driver<br />

assistance systems available, including<br />

an adaptive cruise control with Stop n’<br />

Go function. Audi side assist, which uses<br />

radar sensors to check blindspots when<br />

changing lanes, works closely together<br />

with Audi active lane assist, which<br />

prevents unintended lane changes. The<br />

night vision assistant now includes even<br />

more functions, with the Audi pre-sense<br />

basic safety system available as an option.<br />

Customers are also able to specify the<br />

Audi RS6 Avant with a head-up display<br />

system.<br />

The Audi RS6 Avant comes standard<br />

with a 5 year/100 000km Audi Freeway<br />

Plan that’s extendable to a 6 years/200<br />

000km plan.<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017 45


SPORTS<br />

46<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017


An Atlantic Mind Aided By A<br />

Pacific Outlook<br />

This is Ocean Lottering, the defiant dyslexic whose dexterity turned him into<br />

the highest scorer at Barcelona Academy where he trained alongside 99 other<br />

youngsters from the world’s best footballing nations in 2015 while his exceptional<br />

aptitude for maths and science is leaving teachers at Livingstone Kolobeng<br />

awestruck<br />

Words: Raymond Moremi<br />

Ocean Lottering is a name that<br />

should soon reach universal<br />

status. The lad behind it is a<br />

19-year old footballer who has<br />

proven that no situation is too<br />

much to overcome. By age 16, the<br />

zesty left footer was already being acclaimed<br />

as one of Botswana’s most promising football<br />

prospects. And with compelling reason.<br />

The show-stopping quality with which he<br />

propelled and controlled the ball on the field<br />

was attracting the attention of people close<br />

to the beautiful game. Ocean’s unmistakable<br />

skill belied his youth, thanks in large part to<br />

his father’s monitoring, especially over the<br />

previous six years. It has been quite a long<br />

way now since the lad discovered that playing<br />

football was what he wanted to do for a living.<br />

And his father Kirk, who early on became<br />

the biggest hand in the youngster’s kicking<br />

abilities, saw that Ocean understood promptly<br />

that talent alone was not enough. It would take<br />

hard work - a lot of hard work – father told<br />

son, to cultivate the talent and turn it into skill.<br />

Perseverance, nay, bare-knuckled doggedness,<br />

Kirk taught, would ensure that the youngster<br />

kept his nose to the grindstone for honing the<br />

skill further. But lo and behold, a damnable<br />

learning disorder called dyslexia sought to<br />

disrupt the lad’s progress and change the<br />

course of his life.<br />

According to Wikipedia, this awful affliction<br />

is characterised by trouble with reading even in<br />

the presence of normal intelligence. Problems<br />

may include difficulties in spelling words,<br />

reading quickly, writing words, ‘sounding out’<br />

words in the head, pronouncing words when<br />

reading aloud and understanding what one<br />

is reading. As it happened with Ocean, these<br />

difficulties are often first noticed at primary<br />

school. The difficulties are involuntary and<br />

people with this disorder have a normal<br />

desire to learn. However, when someone who<br />

previously could read loses the ability, it is<br />

known as alexia.<br />

The antithesis struck when Ocean was 10<br />

years old, and it was determined that he was<br />

a laggard - academically and in other ways -<br />

by two years. It sounds needless to state that<br />

Kirk and his wife, Renee, were devastated by<br />

the diagnosis, to say nothing of Ocean himself.<br />

However, they knew that wallowing in self-pity<br />

would achieve nothing and probably lead to a<br />

poorer prognosis. And so with doctors’ help,<br />

they underscored their son’s strengths as a<br />

counterbalance to his condition. Ocean had<br />

demonstrated a pronounced proficiency in<br />

mathematics and science and had often shown<br />

flashes of brilliance in arts and crafts.<br />

This combination, together with his<br />

aptitude for soccer as already shown by his<br />

dexterity on the ball, was to become the basis of<br />

the lad’s rehabilitation. “We thought this could<br />

be a winning formula for him,” Kirk explains.<br />

“He would get to play football and get a shot at<br />

boosting his physical<br />

strength. We agreed<br />

this practical<br />

solution that relied<br />

on his strength to aid<br />

his weakness.”<br />

The parents have<br />

come to accept the<br />

formula as a way of<br />

life for their beloved<br />

son and will not<br />

regard dyslexia as an<br />

obstacle to Ocean’s<br />

development.<br />

And much like his<br />

parents, the lad<br />

began to foster<br />

endurance to a point<br />

where this crucial<br />

attribute gradually<br />

developed into an<br />

inbuilt quality. He picks up the cue: “From the<br />

time that my parents told me about it, I have<br />

not allowed the fact that I am dyslexic to put<br />

me off in any way. Of course, compared to<br />

my peers, my learning ability is very slow. It<br />

is a sad fact, but it has also given me a bit of a<br />

Ocean with his Barca certificate<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017 47


thicker skin to focus on what I do best. It is a<br />

beautiful challenge for me.”<br />

With such an audacious fortitude, Ocean’s<br />

trajectory should stay on course and bolster<br />

his reputation as one of the hottest properties<br />

in Botswana football. The talent and skill of<br />

the nifty left footer saw him become one of the<br />

top three players out of 100 youngsters who<br />

attended a two-week long training camp in<br />

Barcelona, Spain in July 2015. Getting to train<br />

with what is arguably the best football side in<br />

the world, the invincible Barca, could very well<br />

have been one of Ocean’s improbable dreams<br />

for some time. However, when the illusion<br />

took form and rapidly morphed into reality, the<br />

youngster had to pinch himself several times<br />

to be sure that he was not in ‘Cuckooland’ or<br />

suddenly become a somnambulist.<br />

Barca’s style of training that Ocean took part<br />

in at the Barcelona Academy has produced star<br />

players in the order of Cesc Fabregas and Lionel<br />

Messi. It is thus perfectly understandable that<br />

the opportunity was immensely momentous<br />

for Ocean. “It will remain the highpoint of my<br />

life for some time,” he enthuses. “I was joined<br />

in the camp by 99 youngsters from countries<br />

such as Brazil, Mexico and Canada. It was<br />

a bit intimidating at first because these are<br />

outstanding football nations and I a lad from a<br />

country notorious for losing. I got a bit unsettled<br />

and wondered how I would fare against them.”<br />

As it turned out, the lad from Botswana<br />

emerged the best. Throughout the camp, the<br />

100 boys underwent a skills development<br />

programme and a series of test games focusing<br />

on team culture. With his adroit footwork,<br />

pace and astute understanding of the game,<br />

Ocean became the highest scoring player,<br />

hitting the net 11 times in 10 games. He says<br />

he felt unstoppable and increasingly confident<br />

with each game. In time he was convinced<br />

that he was the proud possessor of a powerful<br />

engine that propelled him on when others<br />

began to wane. The ease with which he baffled<br />

his opponents was a marvel to behold, leaving<br />

talent scouts in awe of the wunderkind from a<br />

relatively little known country called Botswana.<br />

Exercise of his well-earned bragging rights<br />

continues: “One of the coaches called me<br />

over and gave me one-on-one advice.<br />

And I was the only player who<br />

got such attention. The coach<br />

told me that he was truly and<br />

absolutely impressed with me<br />

and noted that I had a powerful left<br />

foot. He encouraged me to work on my<br />

right foot.”<br />

The impression that the little midfield<br />

dreadnought made would be a prelude to great<br />

things. Also a product of Gaborone Football<br />

Academy, Ocean’s appearances since the<br />

Barca camp have been brief but magnificent.<br />

Township Rollers has wasted no time signing<br />

him on and is gradually unveiling him to a<br />

watching nation. “Township Rollers are one<br />

of the best, if not the very best team in the<br />

country,” he points out. “Being a part of that the<br />

Blue Family is just amazing. They have taken me<br />

in and are cultivating me further. Since joining<br />

them a year ago, I have grown both as a player<br />

and as an individual. My technique and vision<br />

on the field have improved. I know how to study<br />

an opponent and that it is more than shining on<br />

the field. It is about teamwork for the benefit of<br />

the entire team.”<br />

Meanwhile, the Manager of Township<br />

Rollers, Motshegetsi Mafa, has described Ocean<br />

as “this fearless, vibrant lad with a brimful of<br />

cheek who was ready to set the world on fire”<br />

when he met him as an 18-year old last year.<br />

“He had a technique and composure far above<br />

a boy his age,” Mafa recalls. “Even today he has<br />

a big heart for a boy his age. Our stalwarts Joel<br />

Mogorosi and Mogogi Gabonamong always<br />

guide him on how he can better himself as a<br />

player, and Ocean is always hungry to learn and<br />

execute.”<br />

Although Ocean is a relatively new arrival<br />

at Rollers, also known as the Happy People,<br />

Mafa says the “efficient midfield destroyer” can<br />

be assured of a regular starting place because<br />

in addition to being highly disciplined on and<br />

off the field, his style is garlanded with winning<br />

tricks. He has already been fielded against<br />

major sides like South Africa’s Kaizer Chiefs<br />

and Platinum Stars and shown great mettle.<br />

Even so, keen observers who admire the lad<br />

say Ocean is yet raw and needs to improve his<br />

physical strength and overall game. His dad,<br />

who may be said to be one of them, reminds<br />

him of this every day. “I still think he is far from<br />

reaching his full potential,” Kirk says. “The<br />

good thing is that I can see that he also wants<br />

to go further. I want him to have such a hunger<br />

and feed off it. He has immense potential.”<br />

But if his father is his biggest critic, his<br />

siblings are Ocean’s biggest fans. They consist<br />

of older sister Bronwyn (21) and little brother<br />

Henry (16). Both are infinitely proud of “the<br />

man” that their brother has become. Says Henry<br />

of one whose biggest idol is Barca’s Lionel Messi:<br />

“Ocean has achieved so much and I really look<br />

up to him. He didn’t even have to go for trials<br />

before he was signed on by Rollers.<br />

That’s genius i n<br />

my eyes.”<br />

The most abiding ambition of this defiant<br />

dyslexic is to play alongside the world’s best in<br />

Europe. But in the meantime, he is investing<br />

his heart and soul in the team that currently<br />

has the richest vein of form in Botswana,<br />

Township Rollers, which is basing its plans for<br />

the next season on Ocean’s playing a key role<br />

in offence and scoring. Having left 11 goals out<br />

of 10 games at the Barca training camp, the<br />

Blues know they can trust in Ocean’s ability to<br />

baffle their foes and send enough volleys past<br />

goalkeepers to win games. That is because his<br />

style has been compared with that of the likes of<br />

Ángel Di María, the attacking midfielder who<br />

currently plays for French Ligue 1 club, Paris<br />

Saint-Germain.<br />

Does he ever feel the pressure of competition<br />

from his older counterparts? “No,” he says<br />

without hesitation.<br />

“Honestly, I train to better<br />

myself every day. I always<br />

plan to test my own<br />

boundaries, to become a<br />

better player and person<br />

than I was yesterday.<br />

My competition is my<br />

potential.”<br />

As for academic performance, the head<br />

teachers’ secretary at Livingstone Kolobeng<br />

College leaves the enquirer with the distinct<br />

impression that their phenomenal Form Fiver’s<br />

Atlantic mind is aided by a Pacific outlook. “He<br />

tackles complex formulas with ease and<br />

is never in trouble with anyone,”<br />

says Khumo Muncho. “And his<br />

schedule with Township Rollers<br />

does not affect his focus.”<br />

48<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017


Focus on Skills that<br />

Underlie Reading<br />

IN ADDITION TO THE PROGRAMME<br />

DESCRIPTIONS, WE HAVE PROVIDED<br />

A TABLE THAT SUMMARISES SOME OF<br />

THE PROGRAMMES AND THEIR VARYING<br />

FEATURES.<br />

While very<br />

little is<br />

known<br />

about<br />

dyslexia<br />

and its extent of in Botswana,<br />

the heart-warming story of<br />

Ocean Lloyd Lottering and<br />

his struggle to overcome<br />

the debilitating disease<br />

compelled us to browse the<br />

Internet where we found a few<br />

programmes recommended<br />

for coping.<br />

“There are no universally<br />

effective programmes, but<br />

here are knowable principles<br />

that need to be incorporated<br />

in all programmes about how<br />

we teach written language.”<br />

- Maryanne Wolf, researcher<br />

and parent, in Proust and the<br />

Squid, 2007, p. 209<br />

The following is a list of<br />

some programmes that<br />

have been developed for<br />

struggling readers and<br />

writers. Some were created<br />

specifically for dyslexia,<br />

like the Orton-Gillingham<br />

approach.<br />

Depending on the<br />

programme, it may focus on<br />

one of more of the various<br />

skills that underlie reading<br />

- oral language, phonemic<br />

awareness, vocabulary,<br />

comprehension, spelling<br />

or writing. You will need to<br />

determine which programme<br />

works best for your child.<br />

Most generally, these<br />

programmes are best used in<br />

an individual or small group<br />

therapy setting. Professionals<br />

Gillingham approach,<br />

either for training courses<br />

or to access a certified<br />

tutor or therapist, look for<br />

programmes/courses that<br />

have been accredited. The<br />

International Multisensory<br />

Structured Language<br />

Education Council (IMSLEC)<br />

holds their accredited<br />

courses to rigorous standards<br />

that in turn allow the<br />

courses to certify qualified<br />

individuals who meet these<br />

standards as teachers,<br />

therapists and instructors.<br />

will want to familiarise<br />

themselves with the<br />

programme. Some require<br />

specific training. Orton-<br />

Gillingham is a multi-faceted<br />

programme that was created<br />

specifically for dyslexics. It<br />

teaches reading, writing and<br />

spelling by using auditory,<br />

visual, and tactile measures.<br />

Many other reading and<br />

writing programmes utilise<br />

the Orton-Gillingham<br />

approach.<br />

When researching a<br />

Structured Literacy based<br />

programme, such as one<br />

that is built on the Orton-<br />

These accreditationcertification<br />

credentials<br />

ensure access to reliable<br />

and effective instruction.<br />

Other reliable resources<br />

for programs serving<br />

dyslexics are found through<br />

the Academic Language<br />

Therapy Association and<br />

the International Dyslexia<br />

Association.<br />

All About Learning Press<br />

All About Reading teaches phonics, decoding, fluency and<br />

comprehension in a fun and engaging way. All About Spelling<br />

teaches encoding skills, spelling rules and multisensory strategies<br />

to help students become proficient spellers for life.<br />

Visit: http://www.allaboutlearningpress.com<br />

The Barton Reading & Spelling System<br />

The Barton Reading & Spelling System is a one-on-one tutoring<br />

system that improves spelling, reading and writing skills. It<br />

works well for children, teenagers and adults who struggle due to<br />

dyslexia or a learning disability.<br />

Visit: http://www.bartonreading.com<br />

The Family Fun with Fluency Kit<br />

Produced by the Neuhaus Education Centre, this manual<br />

contains a set of passages marked at the hundredth word. A child<br />

can read the passage to the hundredth word while a parent times<br />

how long he takes and tracks his progress over time.<br />

Visit: http://neuhaus.org/family-fun-with-fluency<br />

Literacy Lab<br />

This research-based reading programme starts with the user<br />

distinguishing letters and letter sounds and ending with the<br />

user reading full sentences and stories. In the end, the user can<br />

comprehend and analyze what he or she just read.<br />

Visit: www.mayer-johnson.com/literacy-lab<br />

REWARDS Programme<br />

The REWARDS programme is a family of reading and writing<br />

intervention materials created for young struggling learners.<br />

The programme aims to increase fluency rates, enhance reading<br />

comprehension and increase precision in sentence writing.<br />

Visit: www.soprislearning.com/literacy/rewards-program<br />

Sonday Systems 1 and 2<br />

The Sonday Systems are beginning and intermediate reading<br />

intervention programmes that use the Orton-Gillingham<br />

approach to language instruction. Students will learn and<br />

systematically go through core reading and writing skills such<br />

as sound blending, basic vocabulary, handwriting, and reading<br />

comprehension. The programmes include complete lesson plans<br />

and instruction material for teachers.<br />

Visit: www.winsorlearning.com/products/sonday-system-1<br />

SPELL-Links<br />

This unique programme offers specific activities that are tied<br />

into a student’s curriculum and that assist students with spelling,<br />

reading and writing. The program emphasizes the five categories<br />

of word study: phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary,<br />

word parts and related words and mental images of words.<br />

Visit: http://www.learningbydesign.com<br />

Source<br />

http://dyslexiahelp.umich.edu/tools/reading-programs<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017 49


COMMUNITY<br />

MABU: She takes them from Callow<br />

to confident to Broadway<br />

Soft-spoken in the lilting way of singing lullabies, this entrepreneur and social<br />

activist speaks of the priceless value of life and the need to spend each day as<br />

if it were the last, writes ONONOFILE LONKOKILE<br />

“There is a special place in hell for women<br />

who do not support each other,” said<br />

American politician Madeleine Albright.<br />

Her thinking resonates with Mabu Nteta<br />

who agrees that this observation “sums<br />

it up”, adding that women who do not<br />

want to go to hell should support their<br />

fellow women.<br />

”Even so, the notion that women do<br />

not support one another is tired now,”<br />

says Nteta, better known by her given<br />

name, Mabu. “It is said too much and<br />

confessed too much. Perhaps we should<br />

tell different stories about women who<br />

do not perpetrate and perpetuate this.<br />

At any rate, what about men? There are<br />

men who do not support other men.”<br />

But women, she observes, have no<br />

reason not to support one another<br />

because they were birthed by women,<br />

to start with. She volunteers the<br />

information that it is different with her;<br />

after leaving full time employment and<br />

venturing into the world of business,<br />

she was helped by several women who<br />

gave her her big break.<br />

Feminist, social activist, mother and<br />

businesswoman does not begin to<br />

sum up the force that is Mabu Nteta<br />

(nee Molokomme) – soft-spoken in<br />

the lilting way of singing lullabies but<br />

eloquent and tenacious in the way that<br />

she discusses and analyses issues. She<br />

says the role that she enjoys the most is<br />

that of mother, which she characterises<br />

as the ultimate journey of love that she<br />

50<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017


has travelled. Yet she also enjoys her<br />

role in the community where she has<br />

an educational facility called House of<br />

Young for mentoring young people.<br />

Love, which is the wellspring of<br />

sharing, is a virtue that was inculcated in<br />

Mabu from birth. She is now nurturing<br />

it in her children and sharing it with the<br />

community because love is bountiful. At<br />

House of Young, which she describes<br />

as her vehicle of giving back to the<br />

community, Mabu enables the teaching<br />

of a variety of arts. Established in 2011,<br />

House of Young was a response to a gap<br />

that she and her children had identified.<br />

It is a music, drama, arts, dance and<br />

cultural education ‘home’ for children<br />

aged 3 to 23 years.<br />

It provides extra-curricular activities<br />

that are aimed at building selfconfidence,<br />

communication skills<br />

and cultural awareness in the young.<br />

Different tools and exercises are used<br />

to nurture the creative minds of the<br />

young and to groom them to become<br />

confident, ‘life-savvy’ and assertive<br />

adults as poets, singers and performers.<br />

Says Mabu: “It’s about enabling young<br />

people to lead lives rich in cultural<br />

identity and a sense of wonder while<br />

appreciating the virtues of honesty and<br />

compassion. And if we all have the right<br />

to pursue happiness, so much more do<br />

the young. Their sense of humour, Godgiven<br />

talents and creativity, should be<br />

cultivated and used to help them earn a<br />

living and enjoy life to the fullest.”<br />

Because Mabu holds that every child<br />

deserves a performing arts experience,<br />

the programmes at House of Young<br />

are aimed at helping young people<br />

from all walks of life. Hence the vision<br />

is that Botswana’s young people should<br />

be “Liberated, Enchanted and Stay<br />

Forever Young.” The motto is Personal<br />

Best, which is about helping the youth<br />

understand that one’s success depends<br />

on one’s willingness to reach the best<br />

of one’s ability, no matter the level of<br />

experience and/or background.<br />

While House of Young classes are paid<br />

for, they are highly subsidised as the<br />

operations are not for profit. However,<br />

98% of the operations are sponsored by<br />

Mabu and her family, with some of the<br />

children directly sponsored by Mabu<br />

herself. She is so enthusiastic that she<br />

looks at the famous Broadway, “the<br />

highest level of commercial theatre<br />

in the English-speaking world”, as a<br />

realistic target for her youth mentees.<br />

This is understandable, considering that<br />

one of her protégés is budding musician<br />

Katlego Ntirang who has collaborated<br />

with hip-hop star ATI on his hit song<br />

‘Poelo Morago.’<br />

In addition to her wide range of<br />

activities, Mabu is part of an informal<br />

network called Women Adding Value<br />

to Each Other (WAVE) where women<br />

and girls meet for mentorships and<br />

adding value to one another. The<br />

forum is particularly good for fledgling<br />

entrepreneurs, but time is also invested<br />

in advising young women on how to<br />

tackle the different issues that they face<br />

on a daily basis.<br />

While there is a lot that can be<br />

said about Mabu and her social<br />

entrepreneurship, she is also a<br />

businesswoman of note. She graduated<br />

with an MBA from UB where she also<br />

did her junior degree from 1987 to 1991<br />

and Masters thereafter. Upon obtaining<br />

her MBA, she landed her first job in the<br />

hospitality and airline industry in charge<br />

of Air France operations and customer<br />

service in Botswana.<br />

She speaks about this job with<br />

considerable nostalgia because in<br />

addition to being her first and best, it<br />

came with the perquisite of travelling<br />

constantly to Paris mainly for further<br />

training. “It was an eye-opener that<br />

exposed me to a different environment<br />

and fuelled my passion for service, great<br />

work ethic and excellence,” she says.<br />

Whereupon Mabu, sufficiently<br />

“It’s about enabling young<br />

people to lead lives rich<br />

in cultural identity and<br />

a sense of wonder while<br />

appreciating the virtues of<br />

honesty and compassion.<br />

And if we all have the right<br />

to pursue happiness, so<br />

much more do the young.<br />

Their sense of humour<br />

should be cultivated.”<br />

confident to stand on her own, formed<br />

an outfit that she called Service Bridges<br />

Consulting, a company that teaches<br />

that cultivating a positive customer<br />

service work culture will lead to greater<br />

productivity. She has conducted<br />

training in industries such as finance,<br />

manufacturing and insurance in both<br />

the public and private sectors, giving<br />

her a profound insight into Botswana<br />

business ethics and environment. Her<br />

current clients include First National<br />

Bank, Botswana Investment and Trade<br />

Centre, De Beers Botswana, Botswana<br />

Diamond Trading Company, and<br />

Botswana Unified Revenue Service with<br />

whom she works to improve application<br />

of standards of excellence and workrelated<br />

principles.<br />

But busy as she is, Nteta makes time<br />

for sharing with her family and speaks<br />

most affectionately of her husband<br />

and best friend Thapelo Nteta and<br />

their three children. Her philosophy is<br />

that people can – and should - find it<br />

in themselves to appreciate their loved<br />

ones while they are still in life. The loss<br />

of her siblings – her sister Jacqui and<br />

brother Calvin - made her appreciate<br />

the value of life more profoundly and<br />

the significance of spending each day<br />

as if it were the last.<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017 51


Matsieng Airshow<br />

in Pictures<br />

Pictures: Baagedi Setlhora<br />

52<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017


The world’s strongest man 2017<br />

in Pictures<br />

Pictures: Baagedi Setlhora<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017 53


JAZZ FESTIVAL<br />

Featuring<br />

KIRK WHALUM (USA)|JONATHAN BUTLER<br />

TRINITY MPHO, AMANTLE BROWN, ELEMOTHO(NAMIBIA) LORRAINE LIONHEART,<br />

PHILLIP MATE, JAZZ MAN, SINO’S DELUX<br />

VENUE<br />

Venue: Stanbic Bank Piazza | Date: Sat 26 August 2017 | Time: 3pm until Late<br />

Ticket P500<br />

(Normal)<br />

Ticket P750<br />

(Golden Circle)<br />

VVIP P2500<br />

(includes Free ticket<br />

to Champagne Picnic)<br />

CONTACTS<br />

+267 3923381<br />

+267 73156870<br />

54<br />

Tickets sold at Liqourama (Riverwalk, Molapo Crossing & Kgale Only), Webtickets<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017


Visit Your Nearest Branch/ Sales<br />

Branch<br />

Head Office<br />

Private Bag 0053 | Gaborone<br />

Tel: 395 <strong>13</strong>41 | Fax: 395 2926<br />

Serowe Branch<br />

Private Bag Rs 1 | Serowe<br />

Tel/Fax: 463 0291<br />

Rasebolai<br />

Moshupa Branch<br />

P O Box 244 | Moshupa<br />

Tel: 544 9232 | Fax: 544 9205<br />

Pitsane Branch<br />

P O Box 71 | Pitsane<br />

Tel: 548 6205/ 540 7292<br />

Fax: 540 7164<br />

Gaborone Branch<br />

Plot 14395 | New Lobatse Rd.<br />

G/ West Industrial | Next to Cashbuild<br />

Gaborone<br />

Tel: 392 2826/ 316 2039<br />

Fax: 318 2461<br />

Selibe-Phikwe Branch<br />

Private Bag 15 | Selibe-Phikwe<br />

Tel: 261 0455<br />

Fax: 261 1810<br />

Pandamatenga Branch<br />

P O Box 107 | Kasane<br />

Tel: 623 20<strong>13</strong> | Fax: 623 2204<br />

Francistown Branch<br />

(Dumela Industrial)<br />

P O Box 649 | Francistown<br />

Tel: 241 3886/ 241 9546<br />

Fax: 241 3672<br />

Kanye Branch<br />

P O Box 594 | Kanye<br />

Tel: 540 3316| Fax: 544 0644<br />

Mahalapye Branch<br />

P O Box 439<br />

Tel: 471 0249 | Fax: 472 0351<br />

Maun Branch<br />

P O Box 383 | Maun<br />

Tel: 686 0392 | Fax: 680 0978<br />

Palapye Branch<br />

P O Box 151 | Palapye<br />

Tel: 492 0291 | Fax: 490 0291<br />

Hukuntsi Branch<br />

Tel: 651 0343<br />

Molepolole Branch<br />

Tel: 590 6050<br />

Tutume Branch<br />

Tel: 247 0005<br />

Jwaneng Branch<br />

Tel: 588 3311<br />

Sales Office<br />

Mochudi Sales Office Lobatse Sales Office Goodhope Sales Office Takatokwane Sales Office<br />

Letlhakeng Sales Office Nata Sales Office Letlhakane Sales Office Rakops Sales Office<br />

Bobonong Sales Office Masunga Sales Office Ghanzi Sales Office Gumare Sales Office<br />

Shakawe Sales Office Sehitwa Sales Office Kasane Sales Office Machaneng Sales Office<br />

Francistown Sales Office Tsabong Sales Office Middlepits Sales Office Werda Sales Office<br />

(Next to BTCL)Tel:241 3870<br />

Bokspits Sales Office Kang Sales Office<br />

For more information<br />

call 395 <strong>13</strong>41 or<br />

email: Communications@bamb.co.bw<br />

YOUR ONE STOP<br />

AGRICULTURAL MARKET<br />

OF CHOICE<br />

www.bamb.co.bw<br />

www.inbusiness.co.bw | <strong>Issue</strong> <strong>13</strong> | 2017 55


Direct communication line to today’s top achievers.<br />

Direct communication line to today’s top achievers.<br />

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