04 Jun 2019

Government will explore ways of strengthening relations with Stanford University in San Francisco for the benefit of young people through the Go to Market and The SEED programmes.

Taken through the programmes by Prof. Jesper Sorenson and Prof. Baba Shiv at Stanford University on June 3, President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi said they would complement government’s efforts and plans to move away from a resource-based to a knowledge-based economy. 

 “We are heavily dependent on diamonds but we want to move away from that,” he said.

The programmes, facilitated by the Silicon Valley-based university, are part of a three-year partnership with DeBeers to empower young, budding entrepreneurs and owners of established businesses in Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. 

The SEED Programme teaches leadership, strategy, business ethics, accounting, marketing and value chain innovations while the Go to Market package is an intensive, one-week entrepreneurship boot camp held in cities around the globe.

Botswana has already hosted a cohort of 20 youth entrepreneurs through the Go to Market Programme while a few Botswana businesses have participated in The SEED Programme in Ghana. 

For his part, Professor Shiv informed President Masisi that the Go to Market workshops held in Botswana had been “highly successful”. 

Professor Shiv said they had found  Botswana youth to be informed and had a global outlook.The university, he explained tailor-made the workshops in such a way that they tapped into local expertise. 

   President Masisi was also taken on a tour of The Realization Lab, the Stanford Design School and Graduate School of Business. ENDS