She said this sponsored walk, which will be held from June 1 to July is meant to raise awareness and funds for the creative industry. In an interview with Arts&Culture, Tlholwe who is known as MMABOTSWANA the sponsored walk called ‘The Last Lap’ will be held under the theme ‘”Creatives are diamonds in the dirt”. “It’s going to be a very long walk that will take two months to finish. I’m walking a distance of approximately 2125km+, starting from Thamaga-Gabs-Mahalapye-F-town-Maun-Gantsi-Jwaneng-Kanye-Moshupa and ending in Thamaga. The walk is meant to raise awareness towards the acknowledgement of the creative industry as an asset to economic growth in Botswana. Also, the walk is meant to raise funds for the development of a youth centre in Thamaga which would incubate artists,” she said.
Tlholwe also said her main focus is to try to highlight the potential that the creatives possesses as it is the future gold mine for Botswana. She explained that they are looking for sponsorships to make the walk successful. “I want to reach out to potential sponsors who can partner with us in this journey. We are currently seeking donations such as water, fuel, accommodation, etc, to drive the campaign. I hope that with this campaign, we could build other recreational hubs around rural villages that need more development infrastructure and more services,” she added. Tlholwe, who runs the MMABOTSWANA creative platform, says her workshop can no longer accommodate the increasing number of artists, as such she needs a bigger space that could accommodate a bigger number. “I have been assisting many youth, so I struggle to help them without the necessary resources.
MMABOTSWANA on its own has initiated about seven business models, a few programmes that, if given a chance, will create jobs, have access to pilot, test, and scale other innovative ideas to create new markets in our Industry. We need to have a youth center so that we can help ourselves and continue the journey to other villages around Botswana,” she said. Tlholwe said they are still conceptualising ideas on what activities to do during the walk. “We are considering having activities along the way because at the end, we wish to make it very impactful. We are still conceptualising them,” she explained.
