Thursday, November 7, 2024

Introducing Taste of Africa Botswana

Mercy Ramojela – the co-founder of Taste Of Africa Botswana together with her husband, Dr Kennedy Ramojela have curated an event aimed at uniting Africans.

Many can relate to her as a blogger who always captures her readers with her motivational posts about various aspects of life. Others as an image consultant and the owner of the Mercy Murc brand. She co-owns a media company called Kenramzzy Media with her husband which is where Taste of Africa was produced under.

Sunday Standard newspaper interviewed this young woman who wears many hats recently and she said the idea was to unite Africans through food and music, and that is where Taste of Africa was birthed.

She added that they saw how xenophobia still exists among Africans, even though it is hidden very well.

“This concept is aimed at allowing Africans to exchange their cultures and what more better way to do that than through food and music.” She said.

Mercy noted that their event is different because what most African cultural events focus on is mainly attires and music. She stated that theirs will consist of various artists from Southern Africa, as well as various food cuisines from countries such as Nigeria, Zambia, Malawi and many more. Their aim is for people to get the chance of experiencing these various cuisines and not just Setswana cuisine as is the case of most events, she added.

Mercy revealed that Taste of Africa was initially supposed to take place in 2020 but due to Covid-19 restrictions they had to put a halt on their plans and decided 2022 would be the ideal year to host it.

The event will be held at The Royal Aria Stadium Tlokweng, on the 30th of April. The theme will be Uniting Africa, therefore attendees are encouraged to come dressed up in their various African attires.

This is their inaugural event and they are hoping for it to be an annual event.

The Taste of Africa organizer said people should expect a full African experience. Various artists from Botswana, South Africa, Zambia, Lesotho and Swaziland. People should also expect amazing African dishes and people dressed up in their different African attires and the very best of African music and dance.

Mercy noted that some of the challenges associated with organizing an event of such magnitude is the need for sponsorships, especially when you want to give people quality experience. She emphasized that nothing should be compromised from sound, lighting, venue and the artists performing. Another challenge is events that happen before the show which then require one to put on an aggressive marketing strategy to capture audiences and show them yours is of a higher caliber, she added.

Through their event, Mercy and her husband will be empowering local entrepreneurs by means of securing décor from them, security, stalls, promotional team, Mcs, catering, and even local hotels and lodges will benefit from the thousands of people attending the event. The lineup itself is also dominated by Batswana according to her.

“We believe in everybody winning with us, that is why we have as many local businesses involved.” She noted.

The two have been fortunate enough to have Botswana Tourism Organization (BTO) and the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development (MYSC) as their main sponsors as well as Duma FM,BTV, RB2 AWIL COLLEGE, Webticket and Liquarama as partners. Mercy expressed her gratitude as she noted that for a new event this is very motivating and shows that people believe in their brand.

Their objective is to give hope to Africans especially after Covid-19 caused so much chaos in people’s lives. They want Africans to celebrate life, celebrate being African and unite while at it.

Tickets are available at all webticket outlets, Spar and Liquarama. Their sales team can also hand deliver them within Gaborone.

People can follow the Taste of Africa – Enjoy Botswana Facebook page for updates. Their contact numbers are +26775686405/ 74893494 or email: [email protected].

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