19 Jul 2023

Gaborone based venture capitalist firm Okavango Watershed Holdings has organised a competition dubbed Pitch and Refine to build and develop entrepreneurial culture among emerging and established entrepreneurs.

The company’s founding executive director, Mr Jacob Mathapa said the Pitch and Refine initiative was a lateral-thinking business competition and workshop programme that would expose participants to enterprise development thinking, helping them to turn their business idea into a business success.

He said the competition would run from August 4 to November 3 and was open to all entrepreneurs who owned a registered business or were sole proprietors.

“The competition will give budding entrepreneurs a chance to pitch their businesses and win P1 million, which includes a business mentorship package and access to market and investment opportunities,” he said.

He explained that the competition comprised of a workshop and boot camp to boardroom that was designed to give participants access to expert guidance and input on how to polish their business pitches.

Mr Mathapa further explained that activities would take place at Cresta Hotels mainly Maun, Gaborone, Palapye, Selebi Phikwe, Francistown, Kasane and Ghanzi, where entrepreneurs from each region would pitch their business to the audience using the skills they learnt on the day.

He said his company believed that entrepreneurial culture was crucial to Botswana’s sustainable socio-economic development, adding that the competition aimed to grow and nurture business skills to eventually boost employment opportunities.

Mr Mathapa explained that some local businesses struggled to access finances because of shortfalls on how best to pitch business ideas effectively, adding that through the initiative, they would be able to identify the root cause and support future business leaders.

He said in the tourism industry, many citizens had brilliant ideas, but struggled to operate sustainable tourism projects that could match other well established businesses and eventually grow the industry.

 “This country’s economic future rests heavily on the quality of its entrepreneurs and competition will help many businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs develop the necessary skills to become confident, passionate and successful business people,” he added.

Furthermore, he said SMEs were important part of local economies as they helped to create webs of financial interdependence that fostered broad-based prosperity, hence their aim to continue setting the stage for entrepreneurs to grow and play a greater role in the economy.

He also noted that winners would have the opportunity to attend the Pitch Up Africa summit in South Africa this year, where they would interact with the giant business owners and global potential investors. Ends