17 Jun 2014

A business consultant, Taolo Moshaga, has commended government for coming up with another platform to enable young people to unleash their God-given talent through the fashion designs and modelling initiative.

Speaking in an interview during the southern region fashion competitions in Kanye on June 14, Moshaga said the initiative, which was introduced last year, was credit worthy.

Moshaga, who is a Botswana Qualifications Authority-accredited consultant, urged entrepreneurs to complement government efforts by creating an enabling environment for the youth to sustain themselves through talent, adding he was impressed with the quality, creativity and originality of the products and the models.

He urged Batswana to support the initiative by buying local products to enable artists to earn a living through talent. He said the initiative was a big step towards economic diversification, if only the idea could be structured into short, medium and long term targets.

Gregory Lebekwe, the president of the Botswana Fashion Designers Association (BFDA), said fashion design used to be one of the top revenue earners for the nation. As a result, he said, fashion the BFDA was launched last year to address the slump that fashion design have suffered over the years.

Lebekwe said the BFDA was in a partnership with the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture to promote fashion design. The partnership would enable the BFDA to collect local fashion designs for exhibition during fashion weeks in other countries where local products were in high demand.

He applauded the government for introducing the modelling aspect of fashion to the competition so that deserving models could reap the rewards.

The competition ended with the selection of two top dress makers, six top designers, five top male models and ten female models who would represent the south region in a face-off with the north during the upcoming President’s Day competitions. ENDS