12 Sep 2017

Twelve budding fashion designers are set to participate at the annual Masa Fashion Show billed for October 21.

The show has been held at Masa Hotel for four consecutive years to great acclaim and with increasingly  attendance.

Speaking at a press briefing, which also saw multitudes of potential models auditioning to take part in the show, Masa Square Hotel sales and marketing manager, Neo Nkele said the 12 budding designers were mentored by 12 seasoned designers from the local industry.

“As you may well know or have heard over the months, as part of the fashion show campaign we have been underway with a fashion mentorship programme, which was conceptualised to provide a platform for upcoming members of the Botswana fashion industry,” she said.

The 12 mentees are Boikanyo Molale, Thabiso Makwate, Katlego Moatshe, Pamela Ntshwarang, Lerang Keabile, Gomotsegang Dipuo, Tshepiso Abdulla, Ratanang Morontshe, Seatla Khutlo, Katlego Sengate, Temo Mpudi and Mpho Chepete.     

Having launched the Masa Fashion Show campaign under the theme: Working together to build Botswana’s creative industry, Nkele said the mentees had been hard at work designing their exclusive collections for the Masa Fashion Show, and that the collections would be debuted on the runway at this year’s event.

She noted that as part of their fashion show campaign, they had also hosted a series of business seminars, namely the Masa Square Hotel Fashion Mentorship Talk Shop Series.

“Via these talk shops we have invited renowned local, and international business leaders and entrepreneurs from different industries. We have included captains in finance, telecommunications and entertainment industries in order for them to discuss their experiences and success stories in their respective fields,” said Nkele.

She further said they were excited to share a key development of their campaign, which saw Masa Square Hotel collaborating with Jan Malan, the director of Umzingeli Productions to produce the Masa Fashion Show 2017.

“With a show production career dating back to 1985, Jan’s momentous work, energy and positivity towards the industry has led him to stage high profile productions in 20 countries spread over four continents,” she continued.

She said his charisma, professionalism and experience in the fashion and entertainment industry made him the perfect partner for them to choose to lead the production of the Masa Fashion Show.

“And we are delighted to have Jan with us on this campaign. As a producer, Jan is responsible for leading the entire running of the fashion show. He is the go to guy for every detail vetted for this upcoming show, and we knew that we would be in the best of hands under this partnership,” said Nkele.

She said as a leading hotel in Botswana, they remained committed to leveraging their stakeholder relationships to redefine the Botswana hospitality industry. ENDS