BITC partners entrepreneur to mentor small businesses
Pauline Dikuelo | Friday December 2, 2016 16:13
The initiative aims to build a network of support by bridging the gap between the business world and the community through mentors and organisations that are committed to creating positive change.
Bring Change Africa intends to support projects at an early stage of their development in Botswana and act as a catalyst for entrepreneurs by building a community that can accelerate the impact of forward-thinking projects, ideas and people.
According to BITC, director Corporate Communications, Kutlo Moagi they have decided to partner with Bring Change Africa in this endeavour to help empower local entrepreneurs thus help their businesses to grow and penetrate the international markets by getting the right mentorship.
“Our role as BITC is to identify potential entrepreneurs that are willing to participate in the programme as well as potential mentors. We build close relationships with experts across sectors that understand and support the importance of a growth mindset,” she said.
She said those selected will go through an assessment to identify the overall winner locally who has to go through the 10 mentors that will be selected by BITC and will then be eligible to participate with participating countries.
“The winner will automatically be entered into the competition where they get to meet other winners from the participating countries where they will get an opportunity to meet and be mentored by English business magnate Richard Branson for four days at his Island,” she said. The model around Bring Change Africa is built on the principle where influential businesspeople share their knowledge and experience, which is built on a local methodology, with a chosen entrepreneur who acts as a mentee. The message gets distributed through multiple media platforms, so that local communities and people can learn, earn and return from the influencers around them.
Bring Change Africa focuses on incubating more entrepreneurs than creating job opportunities in local communities that drives social change.
“We believe that every one, young and old deserves to have the same exposure and we want to help them, by allowing them to create context about different environments whether in the business world, in entrepreneurship or socially,” said Pretorius.
He said they aim to raise funds and support within their projects to create a sustainable change socially and will be using their funds to support educational based initiatives.
“We aim to build a network of support by bridging the gap between the business world and the community through mentors and organisations that are committed to creating positive change.
The candidate is not only the “voice” but also a role model for the community and the medium through which the mentors will communicate their life and business principles. The model will ensure that the candidate’s business and brand will be elevated and shift a paradigm in the community to create a growth mindset,” he added.