Kgalagadi Breweries Limited’s(KBL) award winning alcoholbeverage, St Louis Export recentlylaunched their fi rst Top 40 Under 40 CrystalChats as part of their ongoing celebration ofthe country’s top young people with exceptionalleadership skills.The Crystal Charts is a forum where selectednominees present a topic issue anddiscuss their presentation with the invitedaudience.The fi rst session of the Crystal Chart tookplace at Lansmore Hotel last Thursday.
Some of those nominated to present at thesession included Botswana’s first female togo to the Antarctica, Lillian Moremi, socialmedia strategist Lebogang Maruapula,editor of Weekend Post newspaper AubreyLute, outgoing Botswana Network on Ethics,Law and HIV/AIDS Executive DirectorUyapo Ndadi and digital entrepreneur, ItumelengGarebatshabe.Each of them was allocated 15 minutes tomake their presentations under the theme,‘Leadership – The special ingredient ofgreat leaders.’Ndadi spoke at length giving personalaccounts of some of the challenges andachievements that he had come across beingat the forefront of social advocacy ongay rights and rights for minorities. “Thespecial ingredient in leadership is passion.My passion is my driving force in social advocacy.
You need to be so passionate aboutwhat you do. At times it may even appearlike you are crazy because there are a lotof challenges and most people will tell youto quit. But as long as you are passionate,you will carry on even when no one else believesin you. You will fi nd that most peopleare activists on social media but when itcomes to speaking out in public, they arenowhere to be seen.”Lute on the other hand said that the specialingredient in leadership had to be influence. “The term leadership is often misunderstood,some people always relate it topower but there is a difference. Power is notleadership. Instead, it is infl uence. Oftentimes you will fi nd that it is those people inthe lower income bracket or ‘small people’who have the most infl uence and attentionneeds to be paid to them and not the bigpoliticians in power. True leaders do notfrustrate people; they are able to navigatethrough challenges and lead people intobetter circumstances.
They motivate as wellas inspire and another important quality ina great leader is knowledge. You can’t leadpeople when you don’t know what is happeningaround them,” he said.Garebatshabe excited the audience withhis presentation which was full of humor,and talked at length on digital media andwhy it was important for new age leadersto embrace technology. Maruapula complimentedthe them with her presentationabout social media in the new age and thenew voices of leadership that are now infl uencingthe status quo.“I really enjoyed the chats. I leave thisplace feeling empowered.
It is always goodto learn from others and fi nd out how youcan work on your leadership skills as opposedto just leading blindly,” said KgomotsoLekaba who was in attendance.KBL’s Premium Beer Marketing Manager,Amakura Erbynn said, “we are excitedthat the Top 40 Under 40 is making suchbig waves in areas that we think are of importancein our country. Our hope is that wehave more of such events.”The Crystal Charts will be held once amonth under various themes. The next oneis expected to be on the 8th of August.