The Botswana Accountancy College Business Hive, a registered society within BAC, held their inaugural Enterprise Day over the weekend.
The event held at the school’s main campus, brought together over 60 students, industry captains and VIP business leaders to share knowledge and challenge the status quo in the way business is run in the modern day Botswana.
The Enterprise Day, a project of the Business Hive, sees student members provide Business Solutions to Botswana’s SMMEs.
Figures who attended the first forum included the Executive Director of BAC, Michael Lesolle, who discussed strategic positioning and future relevance of enterprise.
On the other hand, CEO of the listed fast food group, Choppies Group, Ramachandran Ottapatthu, spoke about the role of entrepreneurship in economic development and the imperative to develop the young entrepreneur.
He encouraged the students to continue to show an active and engaged interest in business and the business community.
Ottapatthu impressed that young entrepreneurs should not wait to perfect themselves before venturing into business, rather to focus on the strengths that they already have to make winning businesses, citing that imperfections will always be there and will take continuous effort to improve.
“This is a perfect fit for the national, and hence the college’s, vision and I am both excited and proud of this initiative. The Business Hive was launched last year in an event that pulled key industry players from across the country,” said Lesolle.
“Through the Business Hive, we are affording students a platform upon which they can link models of entrepreneurship to practice, translating the knowledge they gain at BAC into real-life, hands-on experience,” he added.
The day’s program comprised of two key legs, the first of which was the Enterprise Solutions competition. Four groups of students, who have been working closely with the two select companies which were selected as case studies for the semester just ended, presented their Business Solutions before a panel of adjudicators.
The panel of adjudicators comprised local professionals who stand out in the business community, including: Zoe Issacs, Director of Business Development, BOCCIM; Adam Jones, MD, Kgotla Communications and Peter Kesitilwe, Director of Corporate Services, LEA.
The winning team, which was represented by Edward Johnson, Amanda Chembezi and Tshepo Letshwiti, won judges over with their business solutions for the Scortchfield Bakery in Tlokweng.
The second leg of Enterprise Day saw an opportunity for Business Hive members to interact and exchange views with the invited entrepreneurs. This occurred in the form of two workshops: “Marketing for the Entrepreneur” and “Accounting and Tax for the Entrepreneur.”
Veronica Ofaletse, a patron of the Business Hive said at BAC, they are aiming at encouraging students to Stand Out.
“Enterprise Day, and indeed Business Hive as a whole, is yet another testament to their ambition, innovation and potential to significantly shape our society and our economy,” she said.
