01 Jul 2013

Debswana is willing to invest in initiatives that will help economic diversification and possibly lift the country during diamonds exhaustion.

Speaking at the launch of the Ghanzi Show logo over the weekend, Debswana group manager for corporate strategy, Mr Boyce Sebetela said the company came a long way in support of other sectors of the economy including agriculture. 

He said agriculture had been identified as one sector, which could diversify the country's economy away from mining especially diamonds revenue. Every year Debswana injected P600 000 in support of the national agriculture show in Gaborone and continued to support projects that could benefit a larger part of the society, he said.

He further explained that as a mining company, they were not forbidden to invest in non-mining sectors for the benefit of all, explaining that these supplemented the economy during mining downfall.

Debswana had also been part of the growing education sector, where sponsorships were offered to students to further their education overseas especially in agriculture, he said. 

Mr Sebetela said the hope was that when they come back home, they would bring with them advanced skills to improve the agricultural sector in Botswana.

The logo has green and brown colors with a tagline ‘Farming Adventure Inspiration’. Explaining the logo, Ghanzi Show committee vice chairperson, Mr Shane Kebadile said the green and brown colors represented farming and crops as the district was dependent on farming, while the brown color represented earth.

The tagline represented farming in the district, the adventure of the hotels and tourism industry, which usually boomed during such times as the Ghanzi Show.

And the word ‘inspiration’ explained the motivation youth gain from the show as they actually get inspired to venture into farming thereafter.

Mr Kebadile noted that the annual Ghanzi show had grown in terms of attendance with over five thousand people from three thousand as well as exhibitors and activities every year. ENDS