he French Ambassador to Botswana, Oliver Bronchein, stated that the idea of the Creation Africa Botswana, which is mostly the entrepreneurship programme, came about due to President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s mission to improve the creative sector. “The idea is to answer President Mokgweetsi Masisi and Botswana’s wish to diversify the economy and help boost development,” he said. Bronchein stated that Botswana has so much to offer as it boasts enormous stories about its culture. He highlighted that the programme sets out to offer not only funding to lucky designers but would also go beyond that as at the end of the day this is an entrepreneurship programme. “This is skilled professionalization, mentorship training. We want to make sure we reach the right people. This is why its partnership is about profit analysis, networking, scale up the business model, have creating new lines of designs; this is what it is about and connecting local designers with international ones,” Bronchein said.
The French Ambassador shared that the programme will be offered for one year with fashion designers being kept a close eye. “During the one year programme, we are going to give the best of training to the young designers, capacitating them,” he said. For fashion wishing to be part of the programme, designers are urged to apply to be part of the programme. The deadline for the application is set for October 7. Designers are also to follow the pages to get the latest updates so that they acquire every knowledge they need to know and be on the lookout for the road shows at their nearest places to get help with the applications.
