BDC pays attention to youth entrepreneurs

Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) continues with its quest to develop entrepreneurs in the country and their latest collaboration with African Youth Entrepreneurs Summit (AYES) is a case in point.

According to a statement, the government-owned investment arm together with AYES, recently joined hands to host a one-day engagement which brought together young entrepreneurs from Africa to enable them to share notes on business acumen as well as to foster partnerships.

This year the summit (AYES) was held at Travel Lodge last Thursday under the theme; “Disruptive Innovation in Today’s Versatile Business Jungle” to celebrate and develop young sharp minds that are driving African countries to economic diversity. The summit which is in its second year following its launch in 2018, is an annual event that intends to have a combined voice and representation to connect youth owned business ideas and reinforce the entrepreneurial desires of young African entrepreneurs.

Meanwhile, BDC Head of Corporate Affairs and Strategy, Boitshwarelo Lebang addressed multitudes of youth entrepreneurs under the topic ‘The Future of Global Finance: Where trends are leading to in the Financial Services Sector.’ Lebang told attendants that ‘inclusion through the use of technology’ will define the future of the industry.  “FinTech is the future, with the likes of Crowdfunding, B2B (Business to Business) funding etc,” she said.  Furthermore, she stated that sectors that ‘investors are hungry for’ include technology, health care, energy and retail. 

Still at the same gathering, BDC’s Investment Principal, Modise Mokone shared information relating to the group’s funding model as well as scalability which is critical for competing at a global level. BDC, which invests in virtually every sector, except large scale mining, said their association with AYES, is critical as it allows the group to support its mandate of developing commercial and industrial sectors in the country.

The established partnership with BDC and AYES will come in handy since it will be used to support the former’s Corporate Social Investment project which is aimed at supporting entrepreneurs with mentoring and funding based on their pitched business ideas.