15 Feb 2022

COVID-19 has proved to be a curse for many worldwide and a blessing for some.

Whilst the outbreak of the virus has posed great challenges to the global economy and people’s daily lives, the crisis has also shown to be a strong driver of creativity and innovation with youth coming up with creative means to advance a knowledge-based economy.

One such youth is Mr Thabiso Paul, a former journalist who has developed Botswana’s first knowledge board game called Motswedi.

Motswedi is the local version of the popular ‘30 seconds’ game, a fast paced general knowledge game where participants play in teams of two to 16 with the aim to guess as many possible answers in 30 seconds.

Describing the board game in more detail in an interview recently, Mr Paul said Motswedi was aimed at providing a platform for promotion of indigenous knowledge, customs, brands and landmarks while ensuring entertainment for participants and the audience.

“I was inspired by various general knowledge games that I played during lockdown and I realised that most of the games contained content that was not specific to us as Batswana,” he explained.

After a few months of research, the Machaneng native developed a project, Motswedi (wa Dikitso tsa Botswana) which intended to educate and entertain locals whilst complimenting the efforts geared towards the realisation of Vision 2036.

Mr Paul said he quit his job as a journalist to focus on Motswedi board game as he believed it was well on its way to becoming the country’s economic powerhouse through creative arts.

“Motswedi fits in well with the government’s goal of turning the country into a knowledge-based economy and its efforts to help drive that agenda in a creative and innovative manner,” he said.

Mr Paul said he had plans to expand the game by adding more fascinating facts and facets of Botswana. He added that Motswedi’s target market included schools, corporates and non-governmental organisations that wanted to communicate specific information and content for educational purposes. ENDS