Rick Ross show was a loss
Spira Tlhankane | Wednesday January 11, 2017 09:40
Bringing a big name like American rapper Rick Ross for the first time in Botswana was always going to be a challenge financially, but MTN Business Botswana and Fables managed to bring the Miami rapper.
The crowd that attended the festival was low and not enough to recover the costs for the million Pula show. In an interview with Showbiz, one of the show organisers Alice Maygilip said people did not come in large numbers hence a loss on their side.
“Because of the skepticism and the negativity that surrounded the show from the onset, a lot of people shied away from the show,” she said.
She said hosting the show on New Year’s Eve is one of the possible contributing factors because people were at their respective home villages.
Even though she refrained from disclosing the total costs of the festival, Maygilip said through the show they managed to build a recognisable brand. She said in future they would make the event more inclusive and perhaps revise tickets prices.
During the show some people who paid P2,000 for the VIP tickets were disappointed with the package because it did not include free alcohol.
In response to the complaints, Maygilip said they had never promised free alcohol in the VIP from the onset. “We only served free alcohol in the VVIP section which was made up of MTN clients and members of the public who had won tickets,” she said.
She said many people do not appreciate the concept of VIP. “The fact that we put chairs and a tent there means extra costs,” she highlighted.
Photos of Rick Ross visiting townships like Old Naledi later surfaced on social media a day after the show.
Maygilip said even though they did not give Rick Ross what they had hoped, they decided to show him some sections of Gaborone he did not know about.
“Because of time we couldn’t take him to places like Okavango but we managed to take him to places where the underprivileged live,” she said.
Maygilip said they would continue to work with MTN Business in the future. She said they have not yet met to discuss the next show but it is certainly going to be this year.