BIH Shortlists Four For FemBioBiz

Pauline Dikuelo | Monday August 27, 2018 13:46

Tlotlo Phuduhudu, Tuduetso Tebape, Bonolo Monthe and Bame Rammala emerged victorious over the shortlisted 10, getting one step ahead to win a trip to Silicon Valley where they will stand a chance to win $1 million and an opportunity to participate at the South Africa Innovation Forum.

Participation at the annual SA Innovation Forum will give them an opportunity to further sharpen their communication skills and facilitate for them to pitch to a pool of investors in the bioscience space possibility of winning cash grants at Finland in November.

The four were selected under four categories namely growth businesses, innovative business, social enterprises and female students in tertiary institutions.

FemBioBiz is a programme by the Southern African Network for Biosciences (SANBio) and currently exist in eight SADC countries being Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In Botswana, BIH serves as a strategic partner for the implementation of the FemBioBiz Season 2 acceleration Programme competition.

Speaking at the awards ceremony recently, BIH board member Dr Gloria Somolekae, said FemBioBiz is a programme that acts as a stimulus for women to improve their businesses and set up best practices for other women to emulate.“The platform creates a platform for women to network and access regional and international markets, obtain business development skills and access financing,” she said.

The awards ceremony was preceded by workshops and coaching sessions for the 10 finalists to assist them to scale up their business ventures and to increase their value as leaders and role models in the community.

The Botswana 10 finalists were selected amongst 47 applications from across the country. The finalists participated in bespoke business workshops and coaching sessions and went through adjudication process.

Since inception, the programme has received over 600 applications from 10 SADC member states and trained over 200 women with businesses that address health and nutrition challenges of the SADC region.