19 Feb 2015

The city of Francistown has over the last decade and a half, experienced a decline in the entertainment industry since the closure of Cinema 2000 and the relocation of some of its renowned music promoters to Gaborone.

This left a huge gap in the city’s entertainment fraternity despite the staging of low key music festivals and football matches.

In the past, the city was awash with games rooms which had also disappeared into thin air owing to the closure of such enterprises.

This left young people with no centre for recreation which meant that a majority of them ended up dabbling in alcohol consumption and smoking to pass time.

Others also ended up engaging in a myriad of anti-social behaviour which was detrimental to their future. 

This gap did not go unnoticed by one youth who dreamt of doing something positive that could rejuvenate the Ghetto entertainment scene.

With a passion for gaming, she grabbed the bull by its horns in an effort to curb Francistown youth from idling and came up with an innovative way of bringing the city to life by opening Game Point Arcade, an entertainment centre that has become a hit with the youth. 

It is located in Nswazwi Mall, just opposite Barclays Plaza.

Twenty-seven year old Pearl Tsogang is the brains behind the entertainment centre. She explained in an interview recently that the idea to bring entertainment to the youth of Francistown first crossed her mind when she was still at Mater Spei College, after noticing that most youth spent more time idling after school.

She said her passion for owning an entertainment centre intensified when she went for her tertiary studies in Malaysia, where she used to go out for movies and games to relax.

However, she noted that it was only last year that she approached the Department of Youth and Culture for funding. 

Through funding from the Youth Development Fund, she said that she managed to realise her dream.

Furthermore, Tsogang stated that her initial idea was to bring a complete arcade where there are outdoor games such as snooker, bowling and other imported game machines, but due to limited funds and shortage of space, she settled for local games where she provides her customers with services such as play station 3 and 4, X boxes, joy pads, and key boards for those who are not comfortable with joy pads.

For those who patronise the gaming centre, she charges P10 for 30 minutes for consoles games and P3 for 15 minutes for computer games.

However, she decried exorbitant rental prices and shortage of space to expand her business. She also stressed that most business places in Francistown are old and dilapidated and some are not user friendly to people living with disabilities.

However, she stated that her business caters for both youth and elders who come through to play games such as Fifa 2015.

Consequently, she highlighted that she faces less competition as she is the only one who provides wider plasma television to her customers and also stated that the future looks bright as she intends to source land out where she would be providing both indoor and outdoor games.

Furthermore, she advised other young people that each and every one is endowed with a business sense, arguing that if they have passion and patience for their ideas they could succeed in life.

In addition, she said youth should not limit themselves in life and must take advantage of initiatives such as YDF, CEDA and LEA because the government has extended its helping hand to assist them. ENDS