24 Sep 2018

Botswana government has promised to grow the country’s top achievers programme by institutionalising it even more and providing its beneficiaries with the best opportunities both in and outside the country.

Speaking after receiving a P1.3 million (US$130 000) grant for the Botswana Top Achievers Scholarship Programme at a dinner hosted by the Diamond Empowerment Fund to celebrate progress made through education recently, President Mokgweetsi Masisi said government wanted to promise each top achiever a job in Botswana.

He said they also want to ‘promise every top achiever who gets a job with us the best opportunities that there are both in Botswana and abroad for internship, job shadowing and professional growth’.

The President urged the Diamond Empowerment Fund to take pride in being part of the Botswana Top Achievers Scholarship Programme, saying ‘it is a massive success and ethically done.’

The excellence scholarship, which is administered by the Ministry of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology, offers scholarships to deserving students to pursue undergraduate studies at premier international institutions in fields of study that are of strategic importance for driving Botswana’s economic diversification agenda.

There are currently 65 Batswana students benefiting from the programme in the USA.

Diamond Empowerment Fund has sustained its commitment to empower the youth through education from diamond producing countries.

The organisation’s president, Ms Anna Martin said through the donations they get from the diamond industry, they are able to support educational initiatives in diamond producing countries.

She lauded Botswana, which is the largest producer of gem quality rough diamonds in Africa and among the largest in the world, for having made education its pillar since its independence over 50 years ago.

The organisation also supports the Graca Machel Trust, which has helped place over 40 000 out of school youth in Tanzania.

One of the founders of the organisation, Dr Benjamin Chavis said prior to the premier of The Blood Diamond movie, they organised a delegation with the help of De Beers to go to South Africa, Botswana and Mozambique on a fact finding mission about diamonds in Africa.

He said they met the late apartheid icon, Nelson Mandela, who urged them to go back to USA and tell the good that diamonds do to Africa.

“We took Mandela’s words, visited mines, facilities, schools and we were impressed and decided to start letting the world know about the positive impact that the diamond industry has in Africa and other parts of the world. That is when the Diamond Empowerment Fund was founded in 2007,” he said.

Also in attendance, were First Lady Neo Masisi, Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation, Dr Unity Dow, Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Alfred Madigele, Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Ms Bogolo Kenewendo, Deputy Permanent Secretary to the President, Mr Elias Magosi, Ambassador David Newman and other members of the Botswana delegation. ENDS