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BW YALI NETWORK
Entrepreneurship Boot-camp Report
Prepared by Changu Siwawa
25 October 2015

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Introduction
This report reflects the successful and inspiring BW YALI Network Entrepreneurship Boot-Camps held in Gaborone and
Maun. The BW YALI Network was established by the 2014 alumni of the Mandela Washington Fellowship- President Barack
Obama’s flagship program for Young African Leaders (YALI). It is a 6-week prestigious program identifying young leaders
from African countries from business and entrepreneurship, public management and civic leadership backgrounds to
develop leadership skills in an academic and practical environment in the US. Participants are exposed to leadership
theories and have opportunities to interrogate emerging global issues as well as interacting with leading US business, not
for profit and government institutions in non-academic settings. The fellowship culminates with a 3-day summit with the US
President and leading US and African leaders in a bid to further discuss solutions to issues affecting youth in Africa.
The 2014 Botswana alumni were awarded funding to pursue projects to benefit other youth. The idea to host
entrepreneurship boot-camps therefore came as a result of a concern that youth businesses in Botswana were failing
because of a lack of platforms were they could learn how to develop their business ideas and a lack of mentors for
business start-ups. In addition the fellows saw it fundamental to bring in stakeholders who understand the market as they
were able highlight relatable topics and case studies to participants. They were strategically selected as individuals who
understand the dynamics of the Botswana entrepreneurial landscape and how it compares with the global space.
This report therefore highlights the achievements and where necessary, the challenges of the two activities. The boot-
camps were premised by the following objectives:
1. To develop young business leaders and hone their business ideas
2. To introduce key business concepts to start-up businesses
3. To introduce the concept of mentoring to youth in business

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Gaborone
Following a call for applications 161 applications were received and 35 were selected to participate in a boot-camp held
on the 19-20 September at the UB Library Seminar room. However, 34 participants attended comprising 17 females and
17 males with some coming from as far as Francistown. Various industry players provided training, expertise and inspiration
on essential business aspects such as developing a sustainable business idea, financial management, networking and
negotiations, branding and marketing, expansion, public speaking and leadership. Speakers included Calvin Bosilong, a
partner at Wow Factor Philosophy, Segolame Thaga from Barclays Bank Botswana, Thapelo Kalake- CEO of Kwamate
Investments, Sethebe Manake- CEO of Vantage Properties, Felix Chavapi, CEO of Energy Systems Group, Thapelo
Pabalinga CEO of Leap Frog. Gorata Motlhagodi President of AIESEC Botswana, gave a presentation on their Global
Entrepreneurship Program that provides start-up businesses with experienced interns from countries like Kenya and India
to help capacitate growing businesses in areas such finance and marketing.
Participants had ideas ranging from technology, agriculture, arts and lifestyle and manufacturing. A significant number
of participants had ideas built on the concept of social entrepreneurship, for instance Lesley’s idea was to provide
professional interpretation services for the Deaf community- a business that would afford the deaf an opportunity be fully
functioning citizens. Mbongeni wants to start a Condom Café- a concept promoting open discussions on safer sex in a
café non-clinical setting. The café will offer light meals, condoms and accessories at a subsidized cost.
Moesi Modikwa pitching his idea of an online events registration app. He wrote on
twitter: “such a great panel, redefining my model now as I speak…. loved the feedback & advice after pitch”

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Felix Chavapi- pictured here with the participants after his
session on networking and negotiations and he gave an
example from Chinua Achebe’s “Things fall apart” and he said
“in business you have to negotiate in good faith.”
Overall the boot camp in Gaborone was a success with both the participants and speakers giving positive feedback, for
instance Kgomotso Phatsima had this to say: “thank you so much BW YALI for that motivating and inspiring boot camp, words cannot
describe how grateful I am, you are doing a great job helping young people”
“this has the potential to change the entrepreneurship landscape in Botswana, it could potentially be a feeder for funding agencies such as the
Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture’s Youth Development Fund, CEDA and many more” Thapelo Kalake- speaker and pitch judge.
In addition, Kabo Ratladi has since had an opportunity to pitch his e-cattle idea to the Botswana Communications
Regulatory Authority (BOCRA) board following an invitation by one of the pitch judges. He wants to create a mobile
platform to connect sellers and buyers of cattle.

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Maun
There were 65 applications received for the Maun boot-camp and out of the 34 selected only 26 participated in the boot-
camp held from the 9- 11 October at Maun Lodge. However, those that could travel came from as far as Gaborone,
Khawa and Francistown. In addition to the topics covered in Gaborone, participants in Maun were introduced to new
sessions on Business and Law- a key feature to introduce participants to the importance of knowing and understanding
your legal rights and responsibilities. As well as Entrepreneurship and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)-
understating your role and responsibility as an entrepreneur in achieving Agenda 2030 of the SDGs.
Invited speakers included Noeline Ndaba of Noeline Ndaba and Associates, Tsaone Moloi, co-founder of a social
enterprise The Clicking Generation, Snow Mabutho, Director- Purple Art, Keene Kurusa a leading business coach, Chedza
Siwawa, of CTC company and Gosekwang Sebutana of Barclays Bank Botswana.
Following the success of Gaborone and having confidence in our product we sent out an invitation to the media and we
were delighted at the tremendous support during and following the boot-camp. There was an extensive coverage of the
event on electronic and print media. Various journalists attended all the sessions citing that they too found them to be
educational and applauded the work of the Network.
Mr Kurusa explains Marketing as everything you do to place your
product/service into the hands of a potential customer. He encouraged
participants to have a unique story when marketing…”craft your story such
that people will see it as uniquely true” He is seen in this picture talking about
branding and gives an example of the successful Coca-Cola brand.
eeted

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There were interesting and innovative ideas such as that of Johannah Martin from Khawa, she wants to produce carpets
from lamb fur. She identifies the abundance of sheep in Khawa as an opportunity to start this business which she describes
as scalable and has the ability to address the unemployment issue in her community. She is seen below posing a question
to Barclays to further expand on the products they have for small enterprises.
Following the boot-camp, one of the participants Charles Kakomee was interviewed and featured in the Gazette
newspaper and he gave an account of leaving his job as a teacher to pursue his dream. He pitched the idea to the

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panel of an edutainment comic book titled; “Laugh Charlie on the lite side of life”. The comics bring education on sexual
reproductive health and HIV/AIDS.
Fellows were engaged in both Gaborone and Maun and delivered sessions on their different areas of expertise. Below is
fellow and lawyer Rebaone Mmereki giving a session on business and law. Participants highlighted that the lessons learnt
were invaluable such importance of protecting one’s brand by registering your business.

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Fellow Gaona moderates a panel on “opportunities and
challenges in business” with seasoned entrepreneurs Noelene Ndaba and Chedza Siwawa. They both emphasized the
need to empower you employees so that they could buy into your vision. Their employees were their greatest asset as
entrepreneurs. They echoed the words of the Leap Frog CEO during the Gaborone camps, when he said “my team
members are the reason I am in business- I have to invest in them”
Pitch Competition
Both Gaborone and Maun participants had an opportunity to pitch their business ideas to a panel. The pitching
exercise proved that sharing your idea with anyone is better than keeping it to yourself as you get feedback on how to
improve it. The winner is Goratamang Chimoli.

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24 year old Gorata owns a small business called
CupcakeVille. It is a baking baking business making
cakes for order. She started baking as a hobby in 2012
but soon realised it could be a profitable business when
orders were exceeding her expectations. The business
will be expanded into the production of raw inputs
needed by the baking industry in Botswana following
the realization that it was not easy to get icing sugar,
pre-packaged buttercream, plastic icing, pre-
packaged cake fillings and marzipan locally. The
business has become her source of income as an
unemployed graduate. Gorata walks away with P10
000 to grow her business.
Key Achievements, Challenges and Recommendations
The two boot-camps have proved to be extremely successful however the only challenge was a significantly lower
number of selected participants in Maun attending with some citing that they could not attend since there was no
accommodation provided. Therefore it is recommended that the boot-camps are taken to other areas to allow for
maximum participation.
The greatest achievement was an ability to bring participants together to share their ideas and have an opportunity to
develop them and gain valuable feedback as well as learning new business concepts. The Network ensured that those
that could not attend were given the opportunity to follow the camps on twitter and facebook with live-updates
throughout. BW YALI Network has been impressed by the great support from individuals who showed commitment in
contributing to business of young people in Botswana. In addition there has been great interest with the local media

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including but not limited to Botswana Television inviting the Network for an interview on their breakfast show. Furthermore
IREX International has requested to cover the story on their social media platforms.
This project has shown to uncover self-inspired and eager youth with a great potential for the project to be replicated in
other areas in Botswana. There is a need to engage the US Embassy further as the local coordinating body of YALI,
government ministries and various agencies responsible for youth and entrepreneurship development and the private
sector.
Key Planned activities
 Advertising for mentors
 Matching mentees with mentors
 Engagement of the BW YALI Network Patron, H.E Mr Mokgweetsi Masisi
 Awarding of certificates for participation
 Awarding of pitch prize

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