18 Jul 2023

Botswana is ready to be a Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) destination.

That was an endorsement by delegates and business leaders who attended the 15th US-Africa Business Summit that was held at the Royal Aria in Tlokweng July 11-14.

Speaking at the just-ended summit, English and Portuguese interpreter and translator from South Africa, Ms Nadia Atanassova said without a doubt Botswana was ready to host even bigger conferences.

Ms Atanassova said she had attended several such big conferences across the globe as an interpreter and what Botswana displayed in hosting the summit was world-class standard.

“The conference facility was beautiful and spacious. The summit was well organised and gave a very good feeling to attend the conference and despite many people attending, they never felt short on any services, from transportation to refreshments. I really shouldn’t leave the fact that your lunches are well organised and the food is delicious.

Now, from our point of view there was enough rooms for all sessions, which were also well extremely attended and interesting,” she said.

In addition, Ms Atanassova noted that all technical equipment worked well and there was nothing that could prevent a good discussion or debate.

She said delegates networked  in the outside spaces which were also beautifully assembled.

“I think this is not only my opinion. I can tell even from the faces of the delegates, the people are very happy to be here and the good weather also helped a lot. I feel that Botswana is ready to host events of such magnitude,” she added.

Another interpreter, Mr Carlos Pereira said over and above what Ms Atanassova had declared on the conference, they discovered that Batswana were generally a friendly and loving nation.

Mr Pereira added that the country was well organised and clean. “There is no load shedding and there are no potholes.

The roads are well-aligned and you can see where you are going,” he said. He said Botswana was ready to be a MICE destination, saying the country was an inspiration to many countries including South Africa.

“So we hope to be here soon again as interpreters. It was a very exciting experience for us,” he said. For her part, Ms Sarah Mohrmann, an employee at Altai Consulting, said they offered consultancy services in emerging markets hence 80 per cent of their work mostly focused on African countries.

Ms Mohrmann said they worked with investment funds as well as private companies to do their feasibility studies, market analysis and research.

She indicated that they had attended the summit to connect with US companies and organisations looking to set up in Africa.

On the summit, she said it was well organised, despite a few glitches with the application (App) where she experienced some trouble messaging some delegates they were interested in having discussions with.

“Some appointments were not fulfilled since we experienced some technical difficulties managing and honouring all set meetings. Otherwise, Botswana has proven beyond doubt that events of such magnitude could be held locally,” Ms Mohrmann said. Ends