25 Oct 2023

Promotion of sharing experiential knowledge and expertise in the business world remains a critical intervention to enterprise development.

Mogobe Nuggets of Wisdom Podcast has found a niche in driving the agenda behind sharing lessons and insights to help build firm and scalable businesses.

BOPA interviewed businessman and founder of one of Botswana’s most talked about podcasts; Mr Mompoloki Mogobe of Nuggets of Wisdom Podcast which has 13 000 plus followers across YouTube.

He said the idea behind the podcast was to enthuse, inspire, energize, and empower intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs of all stripes in Botswana and beyond.

He said the journey to putting this together started in 2007 when he was acting for a company called Universal Builders which was in the process of setting up a local radio station called Duma FM.

Mr Mogobe said at the time he was involved in drafting the framework for that there was a time when they partnered with existing radio stations including Gabs and Yarona FM where he assisted them in forming a conglomerate to guide their partnership as a lawyer.

He said during negotiations, Mr Jamali of Duma FM approached him and offered a slot on radio where he knitted a programme called Meet The Overcomers which made it to the airwaves.

He said this was around late 2007.

“I remember that moment very well,” he said. “So it became the longest running show of its kind on radio because it ended after 14 years, in 2022,” he said.

Upon launching the show, Mr Mogobe said he hosted it and had Q&A sessions as the name implied.

He said he wanted to meet people who experienced hardships and success, with the view to showcasing their talents and abilities.

During the early days, he said, a Mr Ragton Mazhani was interviewed as a successful AMWARE distributor.

“After the show, he expressed his interest in what I was doing and wanted to understudy me and for six months he kept coming to watch me conduct the show in the studio at Duma FM,”he said.

“This went on until an opportunity came for me to study Real Estate at a diploma level under a professor who was very steep in course.”

He said he took time off to study the course because at the time he was developing a real estate portfolio which was growing and wanted to empower himself, citing that the studies required him to go to Wits University every Wednesday evening for seven months, literally driving there.

Mr Mogobe said it became challenging for him and since Mr Mazhani had shown interest in running the show, he called him in to deputize him.

He said they did that successfully until the time the show ended last year, making Mr Mazhani the longest-runner of the show.

He said when technology became what it did, he started watching a lot of podcasts, saying he got interested to a series called Big Pockets Podcast: an American Podcast.

He said his interests led him to go further, and in three years was consulting his children about setting up a podcast.

Mr Mogobe said sometime in 2019 his youngest son helped him get the right equipment and pulled off the rudimentary startup videos of what later became the Mogobe Nuggets of Wisdom Podcast.

From August 2019 to early January 2020, he said, he was doing the podcasts himself in the sense that he would present on various topics including entrepreneurship, entrepreneur including on themes like winners never quit: quitters never win, and how adversity can turn into a blessing.

Additionally, he would present on how to deal with recalcitrant tenants refusing to pay, however, he said it quickly adorned on him that the format he liked was the Q&A where everything was not about him but the people.

“In January 2020, I think the first-ever guest if I am not mistaken was a financial advisor, Mr Seatla Ratshosa of Ignyt Wealth.

Of course, I invited people close to me like Mr Taolo Moshaga to come on board, including one of my mentees Ms Precious Gondwe,” he said.

Mr Mogobe said during the time the preoccupation was to keep interviews short and under 20 minutes, but later he evolved and realized that people wanted to go deeper.

He said that marked the reason behind his recent podcasts which were averaging an hour to 20 minutes or more.

On the monetisation of podcasts, he said he believed in doing what he loved and loving what he does, so he may not have seen direct monies from his sweat, but had several high-profile people coming over to be interviewed and pay.

He added that his profile had also been elevated and has had invitations to attend big events as a speaker and this had earned him monies.

Apart from this, Mr Mogobe said there was also the question of advancing his brand positioning, saying if he positioned himself as an entrepreneur who speaks, it had its own benefits.

He said a precise example to this would be Oprah Winfrey, who was mainly an interviewer, but also a sound entrepreneur.

“So my attitude is that I interview a lot of people, but I am more of entrepreneur, a businessman and a property developer who enjoys talking to people, so this podcast gives me a platform to talk to people.

It gives me a platform to talk people in the entrepreneurship space,” he said.

Through this, Mr Mogobe said he enjoyed a combination of moving his brands, hence both Mogobe Incorporated and Black business entities appeared on the bottom screen of each episode as sponsors; marking an indirect financial benefit for him.

Addressing the issue of eligibility criteria he used to select his interviewees, Mr Mogobe said he focused on both aspiring and well accomplished entrepreneurs both local and international, and they all reached out to him through sharing their profiles.

Mr Mogobe said podcasts demanded dedication and passion, therefore he said during COVID-19 pandemic times he was challenged with conducting his Q&A sessions because of restrictions.

However, he said, to keep up and remain relevant in his pursuit he had to go back to creating content and presenting it for greater appreciation of his audience.

He said the pandemic taught people that they could not survive on one income stream, so all his clients did acknowledge that yes COVID-19 has made them to become focused as businessmen.

He said to date a sizable number of businesses were products of COVID-19, proof that the spirit of entrepreneurship was alive and well in Botswana as revealed by his interviews.

Mr Mogobe urged aspiring entrepreneurs to consider having mentors, citing that back in the days he did Trans Africa work as a lawyer and later joined the team as a mentee to increase on his property venture.

He said books also played an integral part in mentoring and grilling him to perfection in his space as a businessman. ENDS