07 Sep 2015

In an effort to motivate young people aspiring to become entrepreneurs, two organisations hosted a conference aimed at mentoring people to better their personal and professional development

The conference was organised by Molaya Kgosi Women Leadership and Mentorship programme in collaboration with be Mobile.  Speaking at the conference in Gaborone, Ms Orefitlhetse Masire who is an entrepreneur, signified the importance of personal branding stating that it was an effective and powerful tool to market an individual.

She stressed that personal branding was a process of taking oneself to the market. Ms Masire encouraged youths to positively brand themselves to build a great reputation about their image.

She said there was no need to be sensitive when branding oneself, but rather important to learn business and social etiquette She advised them to know how to deal with the media.

“Know how to deal with the media because it can make you or break you,” she said. For her part, head of capital for Botswana Development Corporation (BDC ), Ms Thabile Moipolai said more than 30 thousand people were unemployed, stating that unemployment rate stood at 20 per cent.

She stressed that since workers environment changed overtime, 90 per cent of what was learned from school had become irrelevant. She said recruiters looked at the mental processing ability of a candidate. She further said they looked at the social process skills, examining if the person was able to interact with people and add value to the company.

Ms Moipolai further said skills or knowledge about a particular job offer were essential elements for one to acquire a job, as well as the technical knowledge being the qualification.

One youth entrepreneur, Ms Neo Tlhaselo urged participants to look for opportunities stating that opportunities would not come to them. She added that if they had a vision, they would have to strive for it without fear or any doubts as fear and doubts could be the greatest obstacle for one to strive for success.

She encouraged fellow youths to always conduct SWOT analysis to position themselves for opportunities, adding that as a result other people will be able to open more opportunities.

Ms Tlhaselo noted that the most important thing to strive for success is to learn from mentors. Team leader of Molaya Kgosi, Ms Bogolo Kenewendo said, the concept behind this program is to use each other to benefit one another and the universe.

She said the 6 networking sessions has come to an end and is scheduled to return next year. The session has by far covered 6 themes being, business etiquette, legal awareness, property investment, marketing and financial management , entrepreneurship and innovation and lastly personal branding. ENDS