13 Sep 2016

Women in Business Association (WIBA) will host its second annual excellence awards on October 21.

President of WIBA Ms Tumi Mbaakanyi told the press in Gaborone recently that as Botswana celebrates 50 years of independence, the awards will be bigger and better with 36 nominees from six different categories.

She said the awards were for women led businesses under six categories among them business woman of the year, young entrepreneur of the year, innovation award, and informal sector award.

She highlighted that this year there will also be one exciting category dubbed the male dominated industry award, which seeks to celebrate those women making a mark in the industry dominated by male counterparts such as construction, mining and architecture.

She said the male dominated category has attracted a large number of nominees which is 10 out of the total 36 nominees.

She further indicated that the overall business woman of the year will walk away with P50 000 cash courtesy of Stanbic Bank Botswana.

Commenting during the press briefing, representative from Stanbic Bank Ms Ruth Modisane said Stanbic was pleased to have invested in women initiatives when Botswana turns 50.

“We have grown over the years and have developed a keen sense of how to make better contributions in our communities. WIBA is just one of the ways to support worthwhile initiatives in order to move our community forward,” she said.

She said the bank was contributing to the economy in many ways through financial solutions offerings and through the support it wished to help to grow SME businesses.

“As an organisation, we have to acknowledge that our women need support to thrive in this economy. But the truth is we need to do this as a collective. We have to extend an extra hand to these women,” she said.

Ms Modisane noted that Stanbic has donated P100 000 of which the P50 000 will go towards the Business Woman of the Year Award 2016 cash prize.

Themed: An Infinite Sparkle, Her Success Story, the women in business excellence awards have been endorsed and supported by the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs, through the department of gender affairs and has acquired many sponsors. ENDS