Meet Tebogo, Botswana's determined male model

Gasebalwe Seretse
Correspondent | Thursday October 11, 2012 00:00

 

'For you to be able to make it in the modeling industry, you have to have the swag and the look,' the tall and lanky lad who some would describe as gorgeous tells Showbiz in an interview.

Although Mokoto is very much aware that modeling is in its infancy in the country, he believes that he's got what it takes to be one of the first top male models to come out of this country and he is ready to go an extra mile to achieve this. 

The 24-year-old from Good Hope says that his interest in modeling started by chance a few years back when he was a student in Malaysia and was approached by two fashion design students to help them out model some of their items:'When I got to Malaysia, I became lonely and missed home a lot.  But one thing about being a foreign land is that strangers notice things about you and these two Iranian young women spotted me and believed that I had great potential to be a model,' he said adding that from that time on, he was hooked.

The model further says that he also got a lot of encouragement from the head of fashion design at the Limkokwing University in Malaysia who used him as a model in a lot of her projects exposing him more to the modeling and fashion world in the process.

After a stint in Malaysia, the multi-talented Mokoto returned to Botswana where he explored the electronic media working for private radio and television stations but this did not stop his love for modeling.

He then joined Posh Models headed by one Poo More, which he says is a brand-orientated agency that seek to offer its models only the best packages. Under Posh, he has been able to model for Stattufords, LEA Fashion Week, Marie Clare (the French edition), Capitol BMW, Barloworld and Edgars among others:

'At Posh Models, we seek to preserve our image so we don't just take any offer that comes along because we only want to be involved with the best of the best,' he says.

Like many young Batswana, he decries that enough is not being done to nurture local talent: 'In Botswana even if you were to invest any given talent, you are unlikely to reap any rewards, that's why the country has lost big talents like DJ Fresh, Kaone Kario and Connie Ferguson,' he says.

He asserts that as a result he is very likely to relocate to South Africa where he could easily build his career before attempting to break the international market.

Any advice for aspiring male models?

'I have been to auditions where I see aspiring male models with feminine attributes but I believe that for you to succeed as a male model you have to exude masculinity,' he points out.

The model says that he learnt the basics of modeling in Malaysia where he learnt how to do the catwalk and pose for still shots and videos.

'In Malaysia, I learnt that for you to effectively showcase your clothes, you have to 'carry' them in a certain way and do a bit of 'bounce walk' on the ramp,' says the student who is pursuing  a degree in human resources management with UNISA.

Locally the model likes to dress in Black Trash while international designers that he reveres include, David Tlale, Gert-Johan Coetzee, Carducci, Louis Vittone and Ralph Lauren. If things go according to his way, he intends to make it on the international stage before coming back home to help build the modeling and fashion industry.