Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) has partnered with the Department of Industrial Design & Technology, in the Faculty of Engineering (FET) of the University of Botswana, to promote Botswana-based Small, Medium & Micro Enterprise.
┬áFET final year students presented a packaging design they have done for a local company, Boe’s Foods, run by one entrepreneur, Moemedi Rantape. The students were given the task to access and rebrand Boes’ Foods’ because they (students) thought the company’s packaging and logo were too dull to survive in the business world.
┬áIn his presentation, Chelane, a final year student at FET, who together with his other colleagues designed the new logo and package designs, said packaging and the company logo should always marry to ‘wow’ and attract consumers.
The other reasons Chelane thought are important for rebranding Rantape’s packages, mainly to re-position the company’s image in the business world, to communicate the company’s vision for the future and, mostly, to move the company to compete at international level.
┬áNot only was the entrepreneur himself happy about his new packages, even Chedza Marobela, the Director Capacity Department at LEA, was very impressed by the good job done by the students. She went on to say if one did not know it’s origins they would think the new packaging was that of popular brands such as Koo and many other international brands.
 She further encouraged both the students and lecturers at FET to continue with similar projects since LEA will always support them, and that this FET/LEA collaboration can help a lot of entrepreneurs in the long run.
