23 Oct 2017

MTN South Africa Foundation general manager, Kusile Mtunzi-Hairwadzi has encouraged fashion designers to invest in themselves and stay true to what they have ventured out to do.

Giving a keynote address at a Masa Square Hotel (MSH) Fashion Show & Mentorship Programme Talk show, Mtunzi-Hairwadzi also said designers not define success with what they attain materially, but rather let success be driven by the heart.

Success to her is when someone reaches a point where they can give back to the community.

“This could either be your time, energy or money for worthy causes and upliftment of the human race. You need to look at success beyond you being successful. You need to always have a vision and do not be defined by what you can attain materially,” she said.

Mtunzi-Hairwadzi also pointed out the importance of having a solid foundation in everything one does.

“Do everything right the first time. This might take a while, but make sure you got your boxes all ticked before it’s all systems go,” she said.

She encouraged fashion designers to be different and not conform to the norm as society would dictate.

“Dare to be different and not ordinary. Life gives you what you put in it and if you are ordinary that is what you will get,” said Mtunzi-Hairwadzi, adding that it is important for people to know who they are.

“We need to create visions for ourselves because most of us don’t know who we are. I have always told people how I value delegation of work, but the responsibility staying with the person in charge. Learn to delegate or you will be fatigued,” she said.

“Even the creatives need to delegate and also understand the importance of resting when you are exhausted.

Do not underestimate the power of a good night’s sleep and finding time to rest and recharging,” she continued.

She noted that as people, sometimes it is always good to dumb down when one realises that they are the smartest person in the room.

“This is how one gets to learn new things. When you realise that you might be the smartest person in the room, do not rub it in people’s faces, rather take it a notch down and even play stupid just so you open yourself to other possibilities and different perspectives. You will be surprised at what you will learn,” she concluded.
When Masa Square Hotel launched the Masa Fashion Mentorship Programme and the Talk Shop Series, the Hotel envisioned that this would be a viable and sustainable manner of contributing towards the development of talent, creativity and entrepreneurialism among Botswana youth.  

In this vein Masa Square Hotel hosted captains of industries and their programme mentors and mentees and the talk shop was hosted under the theme ‘Expanding Your Business Internationally in a Challenging Local Economy’.

Giving a presentation on Growing and Managing Your Wealth, corporate director at Barclays Bank of Botswana, Lesley Bradley encouraged participants to avoid debt and that debt should never be used for consuming, but rather wealth accumulation.

“Spend less that 25 per cent of your income on mortgage or rent. Spend less that 15 per cent of your income on food and also limit entertainment to 10 per cent of spending holidays to five per cent of annual net pay,” she said.

Bradley also said people needed to lose their egos and always strive to be accepted by elites.

“Live within your means to live above in future. Own your home and invest in property that is within your means,” she said.

She said people needed to increase their savings and retirement policies direct debits yearly. “Also, apply rule 8x to yourself.

This rule says by age 35 you should have saved 1 times your salary, by age 45 you should have saved 3 times your salary and by age 65 you should have saved 5 times your salary,” she said.

“Stash 6 months of living expenses in an emergency fund in case you lose your job or your business goes under,” she concluded.

Kushata Chilisa, head enterprise and supply chain development at Barclays Bank Botswana said common financial mistakes that SMEs make were mixing business and personal accounts, failing to reinvest in the business, not depositing all sales, paying personal expenses instead of business expenses first, not understanding the cash flow cycle, applying for loans without a business plan and not knowing one’s break-even point.

Barclays Bank’s partnering with Masa Square Hotel to host the finale talk shop came off the back of the bank’s established track record with building initiatives to drive greater financial literacy.

In line with supporting youth entrepreneurship and Botswana enterprising, Barclays Bank has a Pan-African initiative namely the Ready to Work programme.

The Ready to Work programme initiative is designed to offer support to young entrepreneurs in the successful formation and running of their businesses to serve local and global markets.

Students are taught through an online training curriculum (https://readytowork.barclays/) which is focused on work, people, enterprising and money skills. ENDS