The Women in Business Association of Botswana (WIBA) will on the 21st of March host a golf day specifically targeting local business women at the Gaborone Golf Club. WIBA President Tumi Mbaakanyi said the main objective of the golf day is to show how golfing can improve business networks thought they also wish to achieve other objectives like raising funds for the organisation, enhancing brand visibility, promoting fitness and wellness amongst WIBA members.
Mbaakanyi has highlighted the importance of women networking outside their respective traditional circles like metshelo. “Golf is one sport, seldom played by women, where advanced networking and sealing of deals takes place. In Golf, those that one networks with aren’t necessarily within their close circle of relations, it’s new people all the time,” she said in an interview with Gazette Business, adding that getting into the habit of playing golf is beneficial in that it expands business networks since those met on the golf course are not necessarily known to players, improves clarity in thinking and therefore ideas can be conceptualized on the golf course. “Golf also improves posture, and improved posture leads to increased confidence,” Mbaakanyi explained.
Tee-off is at 1230 hours and will be preceded by an official launch at 10am at the Golf Club with the Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Shaw Kgathi delivering the keynote speech and Botswana Confederation of Commerce Industry and Manpower (BOCCIM) Chief Executive Officer, Maria Machailo-Ellis will be one of the special guests. Machailo-Ellis is one of the few local woman golfers and will serve as an inspiration to many women golfers in Botswana. A prize giving dinner the same evening will bring the golf day to a close.
Mbaakanyi said the they hoped to make the WIBA golf day an annual event , “Our intention is to have the WIBA Golf day as an annual event taking place during March of each year as March is marked ‘International Women’s month and this gives WIBA an opportunity to celebrate women. In the long term WIBA wishes to secure sponsorship that will enable the golf day winners to win travel packages to play at high level golf courses outside Botswana.”