Masa Square Hotel launches fashion mentorship
Dumisani Ncube | Tuesday February 28, 2017 16:55
Certainly the first to be hosted by a hotel, the programme will see 12 budding fashion designers mentored by 12 seasoned designers from the local industry. This comes following four consecutive years of the Masa Fashion Show held to great acclaim, and with an increasingly strong attendance and reverence from Batswana.
The programme will run from March 1 under the theme “Working Together to Build Botswana’s Creative Industry” with the 12 seasoned fashion designers from the Botswana industry mentoring the programme’s budding designers.
Applications for the mentorship programme were open to the public, and ran from February 1. Submission of applications closed on February 14. Mentees were chosen through a public application process through Masa Square Hotel’s social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
“We are looking to support already practising enthusiasts. who are active designers. Through this initiative, we are looking to support those who either want to go professional or are designers looking to expand their businesses. Our aim is to contribute towards building platforms for conversation around the development of the local fashion industry, and the promotion of local entrepreneurship.
We look forward to seeing the show grow as our participation in bringing people together aligns with our mission to redefine the hospitality business and its contribution to the growth of Botswana businesses,” said Masa Square Hotel General Manager, Greg Soutter.
For the next seven months leading up to the final show in October, the mentees will be tasked with designing an exclusive collection for the Masa Fashion Show. The objective of the show is to provide inspiration and key business tips from a variety of speakers who are directly and indirectly stakeholders of the creative industry.
“We are committed to working with our stakeholders from a variety of local industries to see these mentees expose their crafts and individualities for Botswana, and hopefully, even the world to see and celebrate. We cannot wait to see what designs come out of this experience, and even more exciting, how it will positively affect the lives of the mentees,” concluded Soutter.