Raditladi wins Orange women in business prize
Staff Writer | Monday December 1, 2014 12:17
Additionally, Raditladi will be given an opportunity to showcase her products on various platforms, and expositions as support from Orange Botswana.
Raditladi expressed her excitement about winning the ‘Bonatla le Botswerere’ women’s competition. “I am very happy and thankful to Orange for giving us this opportunity. This is exactly what our business needed. It will take us to another level in terms of marketing and letting people know that we exist. Our team is also very happy and working really hard to satisfy Orange and fulfill our part of producing the right quality. I believe that other companies will also get to know who we are and buy our products,” she said.
Established in 2008, AH Designers is a wholly citizen owned business that produces leather products and textiles (bags, shoes, belts, and clothing) and currently employs 8 people, 5 of whom are women. The company is a member of WIBA and currently operates 2 shops (KB Mall near the Bus Rank and Molapo Crossing). AH designers is also a beneficiary under the Women Entrepreneurship Development Programme (WED). WED is a capacity building initiative, which is a component of the Private Sector Development Programme (PSDP) and executed by the Centre for the Development of Enterprise (CDE). Launched in 2012, the ‘Bonatla Le Botswerere’ competition is a women empowerment initiative led by the Orange Foundation.
The programme is aimed at cultivating talent and innovation amongst Batswana women who run small businesses, as well as inspire them to grow their establishments. These businesswomen are also to be exposed to more potential customers, through various platforms such as exhibitions and showcasing of the winning product to various Orange stakeholders. Orange Botswana is working with CDE and WIBA to offer support and capacity building to some of the women who submitted their proposals.
“At Orange, we love to support local talent and this is one important aspect of the Orange Group’s philosophy. So women as pillars of our society come as a natural target for our support especially that through this competition, not only do we support local talent, but we also empower women through financial independence,” said Boga Chilinde, Orange Botswana Public Relations Manager.
This year, the competition received over 37 submissions from businesswomen across Botswana. Evaluation of the entries, and selection of the winner was carried out by both internal and external evaluators.