10 Nov 2019

Stanbic Bank support to Seedstars programme has been described as a testament of the bank’s continued commitment to sustainable youth employability in the country as well as entrepreneurial development.

This was said by the Stanbic Bank head of enterprise banking, Mr Onkabetse Morapedi at the 5^th Seedstars media briefing in Gaborone recently.

Mr Morapedi said the bank’s partnership with Seedstars was in the fifth year, adding that this had helped to bring the global platform for start-up growth and development to the Botswana market.

Seedstars is a Swiss-based group with the mission to impact people’s lives in emerging markets through technology and entrepreneurship, with a particular focus on UN’s sustainable development goals.

He emphasised the need to create an enabling environment that would support and grow businesses.

On that note, he said the bank developed an interest in supporting the creation and sustainability of a business ecosystem in Botswana to ensure that both potential and established entrepreneurs had access to the resources they needed to develop.

“It is for these reasons that the bank had sponsored this global platform for the fifth consecutive years,” said Mr Morapedi.

He highlighted that the Seedstars representative Lorraine Davis won in 2016 and spent nine months in a year travelling the world with Seedstars and the bank was proud to have been part of her journey.

“With this opportunity came exposure for participating start-ups with great potential to grow and thrive.

These start-ups are among the very best in the world, competing head to head and our Botswana businesses are right up there,” said Mr Morapedi.

He further said the purpose of the competition was to create an environment where next-generation start-up entrepreneurs and investors connected.

“It was also exciting to learn that the African Development Bank had also announced a strategic partnership with Seedstars World to implement its innovative job creation track model to support youth employment and entrepreneurship in Africa,” he said.

Mr Morapedi explained that the partnership was in line with the bank’s entrepreneurship and innovation lab under its Jobs for Youth in Africa.

He said the aim was to create 25 million jobs and equip 50 million young people with skills to enhance their employability and entrepreneurial success by 2025.

Mr Morapedi assured that Stanbic Bank would continue to encourage start-ups from across Botswana to apply for the initiative and to recognise this opportunity for what it is.

For her part, Seedstar winner for 2016 Lorraine Davis acknowledged Stanbic Bank for their continued support.

She also said that it had been five years now that the Seedstars team took off every year for a nine-month world tour and scouts for the stage start-up in more than 65 countries, organising more than 100 events.

She also explained that Seedstar connected stakeholders to build companies from the scratch with public and private partners while investing in high-growth start-ups within these ecosystems.

It also aims at fostering impact investing and impact entrepreneurship the world over. ENDS