21 Jul 2019

Botswana National Olympics Committee (BNOC) fundraising initiative for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games has started, albeit slow.

BNOC made a decision to raise funds through non-traditional sources and launched an SMS donation campaign in April that will run until August next year and the funds raised will compliment government and IOC support for team Botswana’s Olympic preparations

Giving an update on the campaign during a press briefing in Gaborone recently BNOC chief executive officer, Tuelo Serufo said the funds raised would go to the athletes and their entourage.

“The target is to raise no less than P5.5million by the time the Tokyo Olympic Games begin of which P2.5million is anticipated to be raised by end of August 2020 and is expected to come from the SMS campaign,” he said.

Serufo said BNOC used its social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram to market the campaign.

“The BNOC entered into a technical partnership with ViB Mobile, a mobile technology company. Through this partnership Batswana can make contributions by donating P5 worth of airtime by sending ‘Team BW’ to 16789 to either be Mobile, Orange or Mascom,” he said.

He further noted that the SMS donation started slowly with only 2 903 donations made as of July 18.

Public activations, he said, were undertaken in Mahalapye, Francistown and Gaborone while media engagements through print and broadcast were continuing.

“We believe that with aggressive marketing we will be able to reach our target and encourage Batswana to come on board and support the team,” he added. BNOC has partnered with Turnstar Holdings to undertake public activations at Game City Mall in Gaborone and Nzano Mall in Francistown where a donation box will be availed for the public to make their donations. 

This is for those who prefer such to texting. Ends