Bayendi primed for BNOC role
Calistus Kolantsho | Saturday April 16, 2022 06:00
It was an unexpected appointment, which is a departure from the usual choice of sportspeople for the top post. Bayendi, born and raised in Moshupa, signed a five-year contract that will keep her at the helm of the local Olympics sports body. “I am a child in a family of seven. Growing up I was the strongest, playful and hyper one in the family. When I was recently asked what I have played, I told them that I played traditional games (dibeke, koi and mohele). At one point I played mohele with the boys.
I view myself as having been brought up in a traditional Setswana background,” she said. Bayendi said like most children then, they used to go to the cattlepost. During school days, she stayed with her siblings and visited her mother during the school holidays. She also stayed with her grandmother. “After completing my schooling in Moshupa Senior Secondary School, I went to serve my Tirelo Sechaba in Hukuntsi in the Animal Health and Production department.
I was assisting veterinary officers during the outbreak of cattle lung disease in Ngamiland. The veterinary officers were deployed there and we were left with the station, which meant we worked all the time,” she said. She enrolled at the University of Botswana in 1997 to study Statistics, a course she describes as challenging.
Bayendi had keen interest in sport when she was at junior and senior secondary school, with softball close to her heart. “When we were students at UB, together with my friend, we tried our luck to play for Police IX. We went twice but my studies became hectic. I decided to focus on my studies. That was the end of my sports dream,” she said. An eloquent speaker, Bayendi said the way she was brought up and her association with sport, made her strong. “I know the pain of losing and the joy of winning.
I cannot stay with a child who does not play sport because I know what it has done to my mental model. Even at work, when I interact with my colleagues, and I suspect their performance, I ask if they have played sport because I know what sport does to a person,” she said. After completing her studies at UB, Bayendi was hired by the then Central Statistics office.
She said it was every statistician's dream to work there. “I was posted to the Trade Statistics and most of the time as a junior statistician, I was to go into a trade system and take out reports. It depressed me as an individual because I believed that I had studied a difficult course and I was expected to do challenging things. One day I saw an advert and they were looking for a Statistician at Botswana Prisons Service,” she said. Bayendi said by then she had no idea what Prisons was about.
She passed the interview and went for training at Prisons College. She lasted longer in Prisons Service than at other jobs. She wore the uniform with red shoes and put a belt on her jersey. “I was a jail guard and according to their process, when you are hired, you are posted to prison so that you appreciate how the system works.
I was posted to Mahalapye Prison and I was overall in charge of prison statistics. How prisoners were in jail, how they come in and out. We also calculated the period one serves after being sentenced,” she said. Bayendi said she was a brave person and was friendly with her inmates. “One thing that I taught myself was in terms of criminal rehabilitation, most people forget that we are victims of victims. In most instances, people might commit offences, but we overlook what was the course.
That is where I understood a person’s character, discipline and perseverance,” she said. She worked in Mahalapye for two years and was then transferred to Prisons headquarters in Gaborone.
Bayendi said what was difficult after her arrival in Gaborone was that she had to face a computer and deal with numbers. There was no maximum human interaction like in prison. She got bored and resigned. Bayendi then moved on to the Botswana National Productivity Centre (BNPC) as a Research Consultant around 2008. “I completed my master's while still at BNPC. I then had to make a choice to continue my career on the route of research or strategy. I then decided to pursue the strategy route and it was a deliberate decision. I was moving from a parastatal that was paying me better. I got a salary and joined the Office of the President to take a portfolio of strategy,” she said.
Bayendi also worked for Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency, Botswana Housing Corporation (BHC) and proceeded to join Botswana Qualifications Authority (BQA). “The greatest challenge of the job that I do is coaching leaders and make others rally behind you where you would use change management skills. Along my career path, I was deliberate about self-development. When I was doing my master's, it was self-sponsored from the beginning.
I realised that to be a better strategist, you must focus on quality management system, project management, among others,” Bayendi said. She quit BHC due to uncertainty brought about by a restructuring exercise.
Bayendi said from BQA she joined Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC) as the executive director of business intelligence responsible for strategy, research, risk and compliance and the overall intelligence and competitiveness information for the effective execution of the BITC mandate. “That was the job that gave me the leverage to descend to BNOC because it was a job that gave me a chance to interact with people. In this role of strategy, you enable the leaders to lead better. I had my CEO, Keletsositse Olebile who was an articulate man who motivated me as a researcher. He presented what you gave him perfectly,” she said. Bayendi said she has studied at high-level institutions such as Oxford and Stellenbosch universities. “I respect continuous learning and it has made me what I am today.
I am married to Goodstar from Maitengwe. I am a mother to three children Thabiso, 15, Ofile, 12, and Letlhabile, 6,” she said. Bayendi was headhunted for the BNOC CEO position. She said BNOC had been looking for a CEO for a long time hence they went the headhunting route and they knew exactly the calibre of person they wanted. “I was recruited during a time when there was a lot of bickering in the organisation. It took bravery (bogatlhamela masisi) for me to agree because I still had years into my contract but I decided to try something new. What makes me tick is having people around me and I thought the spirit of sport could give me a chance to interact with many people.
It was in my dream to wear blue, black and white national colours but that was interrupted by my studies. Most people were asking me, Botho are you sure? And in the end, I took it. I eliminated fear about this position a few weeks back,” she said. She said she realised that sports leadership is aligned with general leadership. “If you look at the jobs I have done, their core mandate differs.
So that on its own tells you that I am a person who can adapt,” she said when asked about the winds sweeping through the sporting fraternity such as the emergence of the Apex of Sport and BNOC merger with BNSC. “During my first week in office I interacted with the minister twice. You would anticipate that any high-level strategic thing looming one or two words that you have mentioned would have crossed my ears.
But none of those would have intimidated me because I think it is up to a good course,” she said.
Bayendi believes that she would make a positive change. She said the BNOC strategy is still new and they took a good step by employing a substantive CEO. “Strategy might look good on paper but if it is not resourced well, it would not happen. Part of resourcing is getting a CEO in Botho, getting alternatives to funding and the ultimate is excellence.
They want to do things a special way including taking elite athletes to competitions,” she said. Bayendi said her intention is also to accelerate the preparedness of athletes for the coming competitions. “Those who have something, do not let bad performance at international competitions break your hearts when you could have done something during preparations. I urge all of you to make sure our team is motivated and energised ahead of the next games. Those who realise that BNOC is broke, what are they doing to assist us? Come forward to assist,” Bayendi said.
Full names:
First name: Botho Keba Bayendi Position: BNOC CEO Marital status: Married to Goodstar Brief educational background: Master’s Degree in Strategic Management-University of Derby; BA (Social Sciences), Dip (Statistics)-UB; Executive leadership development programme-Oxford.